Manila Standard - 2018 February 25 - Sunday

PALACE NIXES STATE-BACKED ABUSES, SLAYS

By Vito Barcelo VOL. XXXII • NO. 14 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

MALACAÑANG on Saturday downplayed the human rights watchdog Amnesty International report on the supposed violations of human rights in the Philippines, saying President Rodrigo Duterte was committed to protect the lives of innocent people from the effects of illegal drugs and assured everyone was guaranteed freedom of expression.

Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo insisted there were no state-sponsored killings in the country despite the accusation of international human rights group that the alleged thousands of unlawful killings by police and other armed individuals was part of the government’s anti-drugs campaign.

In a statement, Panelo said it was the firm stance of the President to protect the lives of innocent people from the dangerous effects of illegal drugs.

He also defended the drive against illegal drugs which he said resulted in the voluntary surrender of thousands of drug pushers and users to police authorities. Turn to A2

SLAIN OFW'S RECRUITER FACES RAPS SEASON OF BLOOM. Baguio’s month-long festival, celebrated with intoxicating colors and dances and a tourist attraction in the country’s summer capital, has now become a part of the culture of the city of pines, nestled 5,050 feet above sea level, and a tribute to its capacity to rise from the devastating earthquake which reduced it to ruins in 1990. Some unusual features include street dancing, with people wearing flower-themed costumes. Dave Leprozo

TWO GROUPS JUNK CHA-CHA, DIVORCE T

WO protest actions—one by some 2,000 Roman Catholic Filipinos and the other by militant groups—built up in Metro Manila during the weekend, which coincided with the eve of the 32nd anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution.

The estimated 2,000 Catholics had their pre-dawn protest in Manila, the country’s national capital, against a push to legalize divorce, with church groups also using the “Walk for Life” march to slam President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drugs war.

The church groups are worried about the possible passage of a divorce bill, being championed by Duterte’s allies in Congress, headed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

The Catholic Church counts about more than 80 percent of 106 million Filipinos as followers, and its lobbying has helped to make the Philippines the only state in the world aside from the Vatican where divorce is illegal.

Abortion and same sex marriage are also outlawed.

“Christ the Lord raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. Let not Congress lay waste these victories with a divorce bill,” a commission of the country’s Catholic

bishops said in a pastoral letter read at the march.

“What God has joined together, no man, no human being must separate. No to divorce.”

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle had underscored that life was a gift that should not be taken lightly in his homily in a

Mass after the “Walk for Life” on Saturday morning.

The other protesters had their actions at two sites on Edsa to denounce moves to change the 1987 Constitution, written by appointees of then President Corazon Aquino, swept to power in 1986 by the so-called Edsa Revolution that Turn to A2

FACES OF PROTEST. Some 2,000 Roman Catholic Filipinos opposing the death penalty and extrajudicial killings joined Saturday the 'Walk for Life' rally (left) which seeks respect for the dignity of life at the Quirino Grandstand while Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Tagle (right) meets up with families of victims of extrajudicial killings during a weekend march in Manila. Norman Cruz, AFP

DUTERTE PARTY SETS PURGE OF NARCO-POLS

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, a political party where President Rodrigo Duterte is a member, is purging its list to get rid of corrupt politicians and those engaged in drug dealing and trafficking.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III revealed this on Saturday as the ruling party started reviewing records of membership to identify the politicians tagged in the drug watchlist of Duterte.

He said those tagged in the drug list would be suspended twitter.com/ MlaStandard

or booted out of the party.

“There is zero tolerance for politicians who use their position to spread harm among the people, even if they are members of the Party,” said Pimentel, also the president of PDP-Laban.

In a related development: • In Bataan, at least 4,500 new

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members from the province joined PDP-Laban.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez officiated their mass oathtaking at Vista Mall Thursday in the capital city of Balanga.

“This call of PDP-Laban could mean a possible unification of all political parties in the prov-

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ince. All incumbent officials were invited and took oath as members of the political party.” commented Mariveles town Councilor Tito Catipon.

For his part, Bagac Councilor Popoy del Rosario said in Filipino, “I am happy to be part of Turn to A2

LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the recruitment agency of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found dead in a freezer nearly one year after her employers left their Kuwait residence, would be held accountable for what happened to her.

Bello, in an interview over dzBB, said the recruiters, still to be publicly identified, would be accountable “civilly or administratively, unless the Kuwaiti police have evidence to link them to the violent death of Joanna.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang on Saturday welcomed the arrest of one of the suspects in the brutal murder of Demafelis by Lebanese authorities.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippine government was thankful for the arrest and hoped the suspects—the wife, a Syrian national, had not been arrested as yet—be prosecuted and punished soonest.

According to a report, Nader Essam Assaf, a Lebanese national, was arrested in his home country for the death of the Filipina worker and now currently detained in Lebanon. A second suspect, the Turn to A2 wife, remains missing.

US: HEAVIEST SANCTIONS VS NORTH KOREA

WASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump has rolled out fresh sanctions against North Korealinked shipping assets, hailing the package as the “heaviest sanctions ever” levied on the Pyongyang regime.

Trump used a speech to conservatives just outside Washington to step up his campaign of “maximum pressure” designed to force North Korea to roll back its weapons programs.

“We imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before,” Trump claimed at the end of a lengthy campaign-style address Friday.

In light of past US embargoes, that is likely an overstatement, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed the sanctions covered “virtually all the ships” North Korea is “using at this moment in time.”

Speaking to reporters in Pyeongchang Saturday on a visit to the Winter Olympics, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “Hopefully we’ll see a change on the part of the North Koreans to start to denuclearize the peninsula, that’s what our focus is.”

She added: “I can tell you the president won’t make the mistakes the previous administration has [made] and be soft or weak.”

Turn to A2

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PH CHALKS UP GUINNESS ON ART LESSON THE Philippines has breached the world record for the largest art lesson conducted in a single day, surpassing one posted

by India with 14,135 people in 2014.

According to Riza Niño Meneses, main coordinator of the PINASayang Sining Festival in Quezon City, PricewaterhouseCoopers Philippines recorded a total of 16,692 participants in a 45-minute art lesson held at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Diliman, Quezon City on Saturday.

PwC Philippines is an audit company approved by the Guinness World Record group to conduct the count.

Meneses said the materials and figures will be submitted to the Guinness World Record for verification, with the result to be released after two to three weeks.

The attempt to break the record was prepared in less than four months after Guinness approved Expressions Stationery Shop’s application in November 2017.

Expressions funded and organized the attempt, in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the local government of Quezon City, and the Department of Education.

Most of the participants were students from at least 32 schools in the National Capital Region.

Jason Lim, general manager of Expressions, said the attempt was made to coincide with National Arts Month and their company’s 30th anniversary.

“This [event] is to prove our commitment to positive self-expression by raising awareness for arts,” Lim said in a press conference.

“Standing on the stage seeing the people, you really can see that Filipinos can make great things by working together. We just have to wait for Guinness to validate the attempt, then we can prove to the world that we can make a difference,” he added. PNA

US: HEAVIEST...

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Trump’s administration is locked in a nuclear standoff with Pyongyang, which is trying to develop missiles that could deliver an atomic weapon to major US cities.

The latest sanctions are designed to put the squeeze on North Korea’s already precarious economy and fuel supply.

In his speech Friday Trump had been expected to provide details of measures that target “56 vessels, shipping companies, and trade businesses,” but skipped that part of his prepared remarks.

“Frankly hopefully something positive can happen,” he said instead.

During a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Trump said sanctions were only the first step.

“If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go to phase two. Phase two may be a very rough thing,” he said, without elaborating.

Mnuchin said there were signs the punitive measures were starting to have an impact, but did not elaborate.

The North Korean military and broader economy depend heavily on imports of coal and oil from China and Russia.

China, Pyongyang’s only major ally, has steadfastly rebuffed Washington’s calls for a full oil embargo—fearing the chaotic collapse of the Pyongyang regime—but has accepted caps agreed at the United Nations.

Reaffirming ties with Seoul The timing of the new measures coincides with the arrival in South Korea of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

She is attending the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, which have taken place against the backdrop of the crisis.

The 36-year-old businesswoman and now top aide to her father has been tasked with reaffirming US ties with South Korea, which have been strained over how to deal with the North.

She was hosted in Seoul by President Moon Jae-in, who has long advocated talks rather than confrontation with North Korea. AFP

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His arrest is a critical first step in the quest for justice for Joanna, the Palace official said Demafelis had gone missing in September 2016, and her body was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait earlier this month.

She left for Kuwait in 2014 hoping to earn enough to support her family.

Bello said they had asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look for the recruiters of Demafelis.

He said the department was now coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities on who recruited Demafelis, whose remains would be buried at the Sara public cemetery in Iloilo on March 3. Vito Barcelo

BORACAY WOES PROMPT CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

T

HE full-scale government effort on the famed Boracay Island is meant to preserve its natural assets and upgrade its maintenance amid reports of seawater pollution and street flooding, authorities said Saturday.

Tourism Secretary Wanda TulfoTeo, who heads a multi-agency program called “Oplan Save Boracay (#saveboracay),” said a delegation of senators “will take a look-see of the actual situation” on the worldfamous island, as part of a Senate inquiry in aid of legislation.

Recent findings of a joint field inspection of Boracay by Teo and

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu prompted a congressional inquiry on the island’s condition, as well as a strong directive from President Rodrigo Duterte to implement preventive measures.

“If enacted and implemented, a tourism heritage law will be more effective in ensuring the preservation and protection not only of Bo-

racay Island and its seawaters but all the country’s natural tourist destinations,” said Teo after a day-long multi-agency meeting at the Department of Tourism on Wednesday.

Over 60 establishments, including five-star resorts, have reportedly been dumping untreated sewage water into the seas off barangays Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapac that comprise Boracay, part of the municipality of Malay, Aklan.

Local government officials have taken flak over Boracay’s growing problems—water pollution, lack of garbage disposal measures, and violations of the building prohibition 30 meters from the shoreline.

To address Boracay’s problems, Teo said a joint administrative order

is being forged with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“Boracay as it is now, remains among the world’s most beautiful islands as recognized by top international travel magazines, and that’s precisely why we are seriously concerned over these environmental threats that might affect its viability as an international tourist destination,” said Teo. DOT Undersecretary for public affairs Katherine de Castro said a communications plan is being crafted to keep the world updated on the developments in Boracay.

STRAY CATS SET FREE—PEST BUSTERS PH

By Joel E. Zurbano THE pest control firm hired to remove and relocate stray cats living around the Shangri-La at the Fort in Taguig City broke its silence Friday night, saying it merely caught and released the felines at a place far enough from the hotel and apologized for not speaking up sooner about the issue.

In a post on the Facebook community page of “Cats of BGC,” PestBusters Philippines said it is their policy to protect the privacy of their clients, including the five-star hotel at the Bonifacio Global City that created a social media firestorm over its controversial handling of the cats.

“As a pest management company, PestBusters professional mandate is to eliminate the five general pests: cockroaches, rats, ants, flies and mosquitoes,” the firm said in a statement. “Cats do not fall into the category of pests. So, when we were

asked by our client to handle the matter, we needed to look for options of dealing with it properly and humanely.”

“As we only have the authority to service our client, only cats residing or wandering inside the private property were removed,” PestBusters said, adding it researched and found just two options: bring them to the city pound “for possible euthanization” or catch and release.

“Since we didn’t want any cats killed, we chose to catch and release them where other cats live but far enough away that they wouldn’t return to the property,” the firm added.

PestBusters said it met with the group CARA (Compassion and Responsibility for Animals Welfare Philippines) and brought their volunteers to one of the locations where they released the cats.

“We will continue with our commitment to engage with CARA and any official organizations following

up on this issue,” it added.

A copy of the firm’s official statement, made by PestBusters client services manager Rina Macasaet, was posted on Facebook Friday by Cats of BGC, a group of concerned individuals and animal lovers who called the public’s attention on the disappearance of the felines on Feb. 14.

“It has been more than a week since the incident took place. Unfortunately, we still don’t have any good news for those waiting for it.

Apologies for the lack of updates from this page,” the group said along with the post.

It added: “How nice [really not] of them to finally to show up and provide a statement regarding this matter. Where are our cats?”

The stray cats remain missing despite efforts of the group with the help of CARA volunteers to find the animals.

Public outrage on social media broke out after at least 20 cats liv-

ing near the hotel disappeared, after Shangri-La management said it hired PestBusters to remove and relocate the animals.

The hotel assured the public that no harm had been done to the relocated cats.

“In fact, more than half of them have been adopted by hotel employees. The others were relocated to two locations within Taguig,” Shangri-La said in a statement.

On its official Facebook page, CARA said the final round of searches was made last Thursday, following the series of searches with representatives of Shangri-La and PestBusters.

They failed to locate the cats.

CARA also acknowledged and expressed gratitude to the employees of Shangri-La for providing homes for some of the cats as claimed by the hotel management. But it noted that the 12 cats adopted by the hotel staff were not the ones they were looking for.

“It’s dying. It’s very sick. But we might be able to save it... but it can only be saved if people will wake up,” he added.

Reyes said they were on their eighth day of fasting during the weekend, which toppled then President Marcos, declared they started last Feb. 17.

Reyes said the farmers’ health have winner by the Batasang Pambansa and the Commission on Elections in the snap started to deteriorate so they might end their fasting Sunday. But he said he would elections in Febrtuary 1986.

The Dasal at Ayuno (Prayer and Fast- continue.

Asked when he would break his fast, he ing) Laban sa Cha-Cha Para sa Demokrasya, one of the groups participating in the shrugged and said in 2005, he survived demonstrations, told reporters its mem- 44 days of fasting in protest against then bers faced eviction threats but stressed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“In July 10, 2005 until Aug. 22, 2005, I they would stand their ground.

Activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes, along sat there in a corner and fasted for 44 days with another fellow priest, a nun, and against Gloria,” he recalled.

“And she’s back. And now Gloria’s five farmers, who are members of Dasal at Ayuno, were fasting for democracy, with [President Rodrigo] Duterte. It’s a which Reyes said was currently “very sick” very nice nightmare. It’s getting more and more complicated and uglier and and on the brink of demise.

“These are signs of dying democracy. bloodier and more bizarre. Our politics is The death of democracy, I’m not celebrat- bizarre,” he said.

Another group, members of the activist ing it. I’m fasting for it. I’m praying for it,” Gabriela women’s alliance also marched he told some reporters.

with the Voices of Women for Justice and Peace on Edsa with fresh calls on the Duterte administration to halt its bloody counterinsurgency war and war on drugs it claimed were producing record numbers of extrajudicial killings.

“On the 32nd anniversary of the Edsa People Power uprising that toppled the US-backed Marcos dictatorship, women rise, resist and unite against unapologetic Marcos worshipper, President Rodrigo Duterte, who wants to bring back rapes, brutal killings, mass arrests, and military tribunals of the hated dictatorship we overthrew in 1986,” said Gabriela secretary-general Joms Salvador in a statement.

“We say never again to one-man rule, plunder, and absolute subjugation of the nation by imperialist masters,” she added.

Another group of militant protesters against charter change flocked to the People Power Monument ahead of the commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the peaceful revolt.

Speaking to ANC, Bayan Muna secretary

-general Renato Reyes Jr. said amending the country’s Constitution should not be the government’s priority as there were more pressing national issues.

“The people demand that the administration address the economic problems they are experiencing...these are far more important issues compared to the push for charter change,” he said.

Malacañang earlier declared Feb. 25 as a special non-working day in celebration of the 32nd anniversary of the 1986 popular revolt that ousted Marcos and installed Aquino in 1986.

Duterte has not personally taken a stance on the divorce bill.

But he has actively attacked the church since taking office in mid-2016, accusing the clergy of sexual abuses and hypocrisy.

The church in turn has been one of the most outspoken critics of Duterte, particularly his human rights record, with the government admitting to the killings of some 4,000 suspects in its drugs war. Activists say the real toll is three times that number. AFP

nicipal officials from 11 towns and one city, and village officials and leaders from 237 barangays.

According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the drug problem in the Philippines would continue unless the administration got rid of government officials and law enforcers protecting drug dealing.

“The continued existence of the illegal drug trade is contrary to the principles of the Party. You are not a true member of PDP-Laban if you defy our chairman’s campaign against illegal drugs,” he said.

Pimentel tapped PDP-Laban vice chairman and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to spearhead efforts in purging the party’s ranks of corrupt elements. Cusi also heads the Party’s Discipline Committee.

“As the President and our Chairman

said, if you are unfairly linked to the drug trade, you will be given the chance to clear your name. However, no help will come to you if we can confirm the allegations,” said Pimentel.

Pimentel explained that membership in the PDP-Laban was a privilege reserved for those who actively support its principles and policies in words and deeds.

He said the rapid expansion of PDPLaban, swamped with thousands of applications, allowed these questionable members to enter the party, but with the multi-step membership review process, these individuals would be eventually identified and removed.

In a forum, PDEA officials revealed that international drug syndicates were operating in the country in cahoots with government officials, law enforcers and com-

munity leaders.

They said methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu; marijuana and party drug ecstasy were the top three narcotics distributed in the streets and these prohibited substances are manufactured by Chinese, Taiwanese and Mexican drug syndicates.

Duterte also disclosed that 40 percent of barangay officials were linked to illegal drugs or directly involved in drug dealing and trafficking.

Since July 2016, at least 39 village chairmen and 53 village councilmen have been arrested due to involvement in illegal drugs.

Authorities suggested a target of 30 percent of barangays must be cleared yearly in the hope of totally eradicating the drug menace in four years. With Butch Gunio

suspected drug pushers and users in the country.

“As for those who were killed by the poFrom A1 lice, the same were made on the basis of self-defense when they employed unlaw“The true cause of the extrajudicial ful means to resist arrest posing threat to killings is that members of the drug syn- the lives of the police officers,” the Malacadicates are killing each other to prevent ñang official said.

On the declaration of martial law in their competitors from informing the authorities which may lead to their arrest,” Mindanao and to reintroduce the death Panelo said on the deaths of hundreds of penalty, Panelo said the AI had taken the

issues out of context.

Panelo explained the President was only compelled to declare martial law and to extend the same to secure the safety of the people in Mindanao by crushing the rebellion and restore peace and order.

He said there was no proof of any abuse of authority by the military.

“We reiterate the President does not prohibit journalists and critics from speaking their views on the policies and programs

of this administration. It is the spreading of false news that distorts the truth which must be scrutinized, not being protected by the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression,” Panelo said.

Contrary to AI’s Report, protests and demonstrations, whether for or against the polices of the administration, are prevalent now more than ever, showing that democracy is very much alive in the country, Panelo said.

TWO GROUPS...

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DUTERTE...

From A1 the ruling political party PDP-Laban. I have strong confidence to (sic) the party.”

Balanga City Councilor Jovic Baluyot said, “It is a privilege to be a member of PDP-Laban. The political party has good structure to sustain programs for its members and for the country as well. It has strict membership recruitment not accepting those involved in illegal drugs.”

Gov. Abet Garcia and Reps. Joet Garcia and Geraldine Roman of Bataan’s first and second districts, respectively, joined the oath-taking of new members who trooped to the mall as early as 6 in the morning.

Sworn in were provincial officials, mu-

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NEW STRICT GUIDELINES SET AT PH AIRPORTS

ONE FOR THE BOOKS. At least 16,000 students from various schools in Quezon City joined the ‘PINASayang Sining’ event on Saturday in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the largest art session. The last record set by India in 2014 wherein 14,135 participants were registered. Manny Palmero

HOUSE OKS SUBSTITUTE MEASURE ON CURFEW

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House committee on welfare of children has approved a substitute bill seeking to establish a curfew to keep minors safe and off the streets at night.

The proposed “Unsafe Hours for Children” substituted House Bills 894 and 2332 was approved by the committee, chaired by Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu, setting the stage for plenary action.

One of the bill’s authors, Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, said he is optimistic on the enactment of the measure as this aims to promote the well-being of children and their families by ensuring their collective safety.

“The bill seeks to prevent children from becoming vulnerable to the negative influences of street life,” Nograles, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said.

The bill also intends to reduce the opportunities when children can be used as instruments of crime, he added.

“Keeping children off the streets at night will protect them from becoming victims of crime, abuse and other forms of exploitation,” said Nograles.

Department of the Interior and Local Government officials earlier expressed strong support for the bill to impose a nationwide curfew for minors.

Local Government Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Martin Diño told lawmakers at a congressional hearing last week a nationwide curfew for minors would address juvenile delinquency as this would help instill discipline among the youth.

Diño said the proposed nationwide curfew would also discourage criminals from using minors in the commission of crimes.

13, INCLUDING MINORS, RESCUED FROM CYBERSEX IN LEYTE, BILIRAN

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By Ronald O. Reyes

ACLOBAN CITY—An entrapment operation by National Bureau of Investigation agents led to the rescue of nine minors from ages 4 to 17 and four adults from two separate cybersex operations in this city and in Culaba, Biliran province on Friday.

The NBI’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division arrested three suspected traffickers identified only as “Jessa,” her male livein partner, and another woman called “Monica.” The two women are believed to be related.

In Tacloban, the NBI-AHTRAD operatives caught the suspects in the act of offering to sexually abuse Jessa’s minor siblings aged 15 and 17 and livestream those sex acts from Jessa’s house in exchange for money from a foreigner.

Two adults, aged 19 and 22, were also removed from Jessa’s house during the entrapment. Authorities recovered a laptop computer and a mobile phone.

In its second operation, the NBI-AHTRAD—through a search warrant at a house in Culaba, about 150 kilometers away from Tacloban and where “Monica” allegedly operated a cybersex den—then rescued seven children aged 4 to 17

MMDA TO ENFORCE ALTERNATE ROAD CLOSURE

By Joel E. Zurbano

lane of the highway, covering a 50-meter stretch.

THE Metro Manila Development AuGarcia said a zipper lane or counterthority will begin on Sunday to enforce flow scheme will be in effect on the alternate road close scheme on the eastbound lane to accommodate veeast and westbound lanes of Marcos hicles going to Quezon City.

Highway in connection with the ongoBased on agreed MMDA guidelines, ing construction of the Light Rail Tran- the contractors are only allowed to work sit-Line 2 East Extension Project. on the project during night-time, a period The move, according to MMDA act- when vehicular traffic is light. The scheme ing general manager Jose Arturo Gar- would last until October this year. cia Jr., is being done to pave the way Garcia said the private contractor is alfor private contractor DMCI Holdings lowed to work according to the agreed Inc. to place in position a coping beam schedule: Monday to Thursday, from 11 needed for the construction of Emer- pm to 4 am; Friday, from 12 midnight to ald Station, one of the two additional 5 am; Saturday, from 11 pm to 5 am and stations that are going to be built.

Sunday, from 11 pm to 4 am. During said “The coping beam would require periods, either westbound or eastbound the alternate closure of the westbound lane would be closed. and eastbound lanes of the highway,” Other road works for the project said Garcia. include lifting of beam, concreting of First to be closed to vehicular traffic coping beam, launching of girder, conat 11 p.m. of Feb. 25 is the westbound creting of deck slab and construction

POLICE ARREST TOP NPA OFFICIAL

By Francisco Tuyay A HIGH-RANKING New People’s Army official was arrested while an Abu Sayyaf terrorist was killed in two separate antiterror operations in the rebel-infested hinterlands of Agusan del Sur and in a terrorist hotbed in Basilan Saturday.

Major Ezra Balatey, spokesperson of the Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command, identified the arrested ranking NPA official as Pabilio Campos, also known as Batik, the front secretary and political officer of Guerillas Front 21A, operating in Agusan del Sur. Balagtey added that Campos is also spokesperson of the Sub-RegionalCommittee of Eastland of the Northern Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee.

Campos was apprehended by the joint troops of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion and Philippine National Police at Barangay El Rio, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur at about 9 a.m.

and two adults aged 20 and 24.Two of those rescued were inside the house, while the others were rescued from the neighborhood, the NBI said. Several of the victims are related to the alleged suspects.

Seized from Monica’s house were a desktop computer with screen and keyboard, headset, webcam, iPad and a smartphone.

Authorities said the United Kingdom National Crime Agency tipped them of the alleged cybersex dens from convicted British sex offender Alain Charlwood-Collings, who once lived in Biliran.

Lawyer Janet Francisco, chief of NBI-AHTRAD, said the arrest and rescues in Eastern Visayas with the help of local NBI agents and social welfare and development officers “should send a clear message that online sexual exploitation of children will not be tolerated anywhere in the Philippines.”

If convicted, the suspects face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment under Republic Act 10364 or the AntiTrafficking in Persons Act. They will also face criminal charges under RA 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act, in relation to RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act and other related violations.

The operations in Tacloban and Biliran were made in cooperation with the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region 8, the Provincial Social Welfare Office, and International Justice Mission.

Authorities said the rescued victims are in safe custody and will undergo therapy, rehabilitation, and family home risk assessment before they could return to their communities.

Government troops recovered an M14 rifle, a fully loaded magazine, 3 cellular phones, and a hand grenade from Campos’ belongings.

The military said that Campos was one of those responsible in the failed ambush of PNP personnel Sibagat detachment July 29 last year at El Rio which resulted in the death of a policeman.

Campos was arrested on the strength of eight warrants of arrest issued by the different Regional Trial Courts branches in Lianga, Surigao del Sur and Bayugan City for the crime of rebellion, frustrated murder, murder, multiple attempted murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

“Pablito Campos’ apprehension is a big setback for the NPA terrorists in Caraga Region knowing that he is the brain of Front Committee 21A. He decides on which companies and personalities are for extortion and abduction,” Balagtey said.

of stairs and conveying system.

Garcia reminded the contractor to coordinate with the MMDA should there be any movement or change in the agreed guidelines.

“We give our 100 percent support to the government’s Build, Build, Build program. We believe that coordination is the key to mitigate the traffic problems that this infrastructure project would cause. Any single movement we need to know, with at least three-day notice,” he said.

DMCI’s flagmen will assist MMDA constables and local traffic enforcers from cities of Pasig and Marikina and Rizal province in managing traffic along the affected areas.

In October last year, the MMDA imposed a traffic rerouting scheme for public utility vehicles using Marcos Highway that effectively eased congestion in the area.

BOOKED FOR GRAFT CONGRESSMAN Antonio “Tonyboy” D. Floirendo of the 2nd District of Davao del Norte, avoided being served a warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan last Feb. 19 by surrendering to the Mati, Davao police Feb. 2 and submitting the above mug shots for booking purposes, police said.

Mati police officer SPO3 Gideon Tambis said in a written statement he endorsed Floirendo to Davao City RTC Executive Judge Emmanuel Carpio at past 4 p.m. for the posting of bail bond.

Floirendo was indicted by the Ombudsman for violation of the constitutional provision barring government officials from having government contracts.

The Ombudsman accused Floirendo of being a sitting congressman and at the same time a member of the board of his family-owned banana production company Tadeco when Tadeco renewed a land-lease deal with the Bureau of Corrections for thousand of hectares of land inside the Davao penal colony.

The Bucor-Tadeco joint venture agreement has been tagged a “sweetheart deal” that allegedly deprived the government of billions of pesos in revenues from land rental and its share in the profit from the bananas sold.

THE government has assured the public that it is strictly implementing a new guideline to prevent baggage pilferage and other irregularities at airport facilities.

This include the use of body cameras among ground handling personnel and the installation of additional closed-circuit television cameras at the baggage conveyor area.

The new guideline for baggage handlers: (1) personnel uniforms must not have pockets, (2) boots or shoes must not be loose, (3) concerned personnel are no longer allowed to bring or use cellphones while on duty, and (4) are not likewise allowed to wear jewelry.

At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, all screening officers were reminded of a “No Touch policy, which means that only passengers are allowed to touch and inspect their belongings during screening procedures.

The Manila International Airport Authority imposed the policy in 2016 following the controversial issue of bulletplanting scheme, allegedly being done by erring airport personnel to extort money from unsuspecting passengers.

MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal said more CCTVs were installed at the security screening areas to closely monitor screeners and passengers alike.

Recently, Transportation chief Arthur Tugade directed all airport personnel to refrain or stop from opening the bags and luggage of returning overseas Filipino workers and those who will spend vacations in Manila.

He reiterated the directive that President Rodrigo Duterte himself issued in order to address reports of baggage pilferage in airports. Joel E. Zurbano

PRO-DIVORCE SOLONS UPBEAT ON PROPOSED BILL PROPONENTS of absolute divorce in the House of Representatives on Saturday expressed optimism that the measure will get support from the Senate to enable its future enactment.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that the bill does not violate the constitutional provision on family protection in the 1987 Constitution.

“In fact, this measure serves as both a reminder and a warning to spouses to stick to their marital vows or their partners will be given the legal option to get out of tumultuous marriage,” Alvarez said.

Opposition and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman echoed Alvarez’s view.

Lagman said absolute divorce provides a “decent and merciful interment for an irremediably dead marriage even as the State protects and preserves vibrant and happy marital relationships.”

He said only spouses in totally broken marriages and those void from the start are entitled to a grant of absolute divorce.

Lagman said in absolute divorce proceedings, there is no more marriage to protect or destroy as it has disintegrated much earlier.

“While the State continues to protect and preserve marriage as a social institution and as the foundation of the family, shattered marriages beyond rehabilitation happen due to human frailties and limitations,” Lagman said.

“When a marriage totally breaks down and reconciliation is nil, it is also the duty of the State to afford relief to the spouses in irreconcilable conflict relations and bail them out and their children from the tempest of incessant discord,” he added. Maricel V. Cruz

SALARY HIKE FOR TEACHERS PUSHED TWO militant lawmakers have appealed to the Duterte administration to grant substantial salary increase for all government employees at the soonest possible time, and not in 2020.

ACT Teachers Party-list Reps. France Castro and Antonio Tinio made the call even as they pushed for the passage of House Bill 7211 which proposes to raise the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P30,000 a month and the salary of regular entry-level government employees to P16,000.

It also aims to increase the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance granted to all government employees from P2,000 to P5,000 per month.

Tinio stressed the urgency to increase the salaries of government employees, including public school teachers and workers in the education sector, to correct the errors made by the Salary Standardization Law adjustment through Executive Order 201 (2016); and the doubling of salaries of military and uniformed personnel through Joint Resolution 1 (2018). Maricel V. Cruz

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Opinion

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

FILMFEST BRINGS REBELLION DRAMA TO LOCAL PRISON

EDITORIAL

By Damien Stroka

LOW AND LOWER

T

HE mayor of Davao City has choice words for the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mayor Sara Duterte is enraged because Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez supposedly told other mayors in Mindanao that she belonged to the opposition.

Duterte also alleges that Alvarez told a crowd he was more powerful than the President, because he can impeach the latter.

Indeed Mr. Alvarez is a key ally of the mayor’s father, President Rodrigo Duterte. The President has benefited from the influence that the speaker wields among his colleagues at the lower house. Mr. Alvarez has steered other House members to vote the way they are “supposed” to—which means toeing the Palace line in most issues.

We would dismiss the bickering as party politics, as various personalities gear up for the midterm elections next year. The President himself has also wisely chosen to distance himself from the tiff between his daughter and his friend.

We cannot help but notice, however, that the Speaker of the House has so grossly inflated the importance of the position he holds, and cannot now tell the difference between the office that he occupies and the person that he is.

Some examples: • Last year, during deliberations on the proposal to reinstate the death penalty, Alvarez removed lawmakers who opposed the measure from key positions and committees.

• When several citizens questioned the imposition of martial law in Marawi City before the Supreme Court, he threatened to tear the paper on which an adverse decision was printed.

• He said the House of Representatives did not need the Senate to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly.

• He also threatened House members with zero budget if they did not support charter change in the mode he preferred.

• When the President appointed members of the consultative commission for amendments to the constitution, he dismissed their importance and said that the decision to accept their recommendations would ultimately rest with the lawmakers.

Alvarez is also best remembered for the words “Bring it on!”—a challenge he issued to those who threatened to file an ethics complaint against him for bringing his paramour to a government trip.

And if indeed what he uttered about the President is true, then Mr. Duterte does have a bigger problem than seeing a feud between his daughter and a key ally, or even than courting impeachment. The greater danger is in having the leader of the Lower House sink a hallowed institution to even lower depths. Mr. Alvarez is too drunk with power to consider being of genuine service to the people he is supposed to represent.

BARGAIN GEMS AT BIG BAD WOLF BOOK SALE

FOR the first time ever, Malaysia’s Big Bad Wolf book sale has come to Manila to tempt book lovers with interesting volumes in many genres at low cost.

The sale is significant in many ways. Book fairs have been held an-

nually for the past several years, but they are held over three to four days, perhaps a week, holding regular business hours, at retail or perhaps slightly lower than retail prices.

Big Bad Wolf is the first book sale that’s open 10 days, 24/7, at superdiscounted prices. This means that call-center employees and other working folks, as well as those from outside Metro Manila, can come in at any time convenient to them. The low prices enable people to stock up and maximize their budget.

The reason the books are so cheap is because these are “remaindered” titles—unsold books that are being disposed of. So there weren’t a lot of bestsellers or new titles. I went at 10:00 p.m. about a week into the sale.

I still found a lot of gems, particularly British imprints.

For fans of PG Wodehouse, I saw a few titles from his Blandings series.

I didn’t see any of the Jeeves stories which are the more popular of his works. There were no Agatha Christies or other best-selling mysteries,

but many works by lesser-known writers in the genre. There were quite a few classics, but the rather obscure ones—terrific if you’re looking to expand your reading repertoire.

I was happy to snap up two titles by Rumer Godden—“Coromandel Sea Change” and “The Peacock Spring”— on the Pan imprint that I haven’t seen for sale here in the Philippines in the past decade, though my mother did have many of their titles that she purchased in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The first novel of Godden’s I read Turn to A5

BERLIN—The Berlin film festival brought a movie about a littleknown act of rebellion in communist East Germany to a local prison in an outreach to inmates in the German capital.

The Berlinale, as the event is known, showed “The Silent Revolution” to an audience of around 30 inmates at Tegel penitentiary, one of Germany’s largest prisons with nearly 900 inmates.

Most are serving long sentences for serious crimes, justice officials said.

The film by Lars Kraume dramatizes an until-now obscure chapter of Cold War history in which East German high school students in 1956 were exposed on a visit to West Berlin to newsreel footage of the uprising in Budapest against the communist authorities.When they returned to their town the Polish border, they decided to hold a minute’s silence in their classroom for the fallen Hungarian freedom fighters.

School administrators tried to play down their gesture of solidarity, but the unnerved authorities of the socalled German Democratic Republic cracked down hard.

When the education minister insisted that the boys name the instigator, they were forced to make choices that would have a far-reaching impact on their future, three decades before the Iron Curtain would finally be breached.

Inmates said they appreciated the chance to escape their daily grind for a little touch of the glamour and drama across town at the Berlinale.

“I found the story really emotional, especially the rebellion,” said Benjamin, 40, who like all the inmates were barred from giving their full names or details of the reasons or their incarceration to reporters.

“But also how you can really have an impact on other people—you see some parallels with prison life,” he told AFP. Polish national Hamsa, 64, said the movie made him nostalgic for a simpler time. “I really liked it—you don’t have that kind of solidarity anymore,” he said. “I knew the GDR like the back of my hand—I traveled through the whole GDR in the 1970s. It wasn’t as strict as you see in the movie.”

Joerg, 42, called the “suspense and sadness” of the story “perfect” as well as its tribute to “loyalty” under tough circumstances.

He noted that not all the inmates of Tegel were allowed to accept the Berlinale’s invitation to the screening, held in a recreation room at the prison.

“We had to fill out applications and then the prison management decided who got to come,” he said, complaining that “too few inmates” got to take part.

Joerg said movies were a rare treat behind Tegel’s high walls, with just one or two screenings a year.

It was only the second time the Berlinale offered a prison screening after a previous event showing a documentary at Tegel four years ago.

Sebastian Brux, spokesman for the Berlin city-state government’s justice department, said the security measures taken for semi-public events such as the Berlinale screening were adjusted based on the number of inmates attending, without providing further details.

He said the authorities in the German capital believed that culture was an important component of prison life, noting that their book readings, theater plays and concerts were scheduled regularly. AFP

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Opinion MAIL MATTER

ALVAREZ HAS NO INTENTION TO SUCCEED DUTERTE ALEJANDRO del Rosario’s Feb. 23 column clearly shows his bias against Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that he is only too willing to twist the truth just to vent out his disdain for the Speaker.

First, Del Rosario made the absurd accusation of purported plans of Speaker Alvarez to succeed Duterte, apparently meant to alienate him from the President and his loyal supporters.

Nothing could be more preposterous than that. If only Del Rosario did some fact-checking, like any self-respecting journalist would, he would have known otherwise.

In an interview with ANC last Jan. 22, Speaker Alvarez categorically stated that he would retire from politics after the Duterte administration and that all his efforts now were devoted to help the President fulfill his four major campaign promises: Fight illegal drugs and crime, stamp out corruption, alleviate poverty, and install a federal form of government.

To quote the Speaker: “Alam mo pagka nagawa natin ito, we’ll have first election under a federal form of government in 2022. By that time, Karen, retired na ako with the president. Kaya ko lang ginagawa ito tinutulungan ko lang iyong Pangulo matupad iyong apat na ipinangako niya nung kampanya.”

Then, Alejandro would continue to disparage the House approval at the committee level of the dissolution of marriage and divorce bill as well as the ongoing charter change efforts.

Well, if his faith does not allow for divorce, Alejandro should adhere to it. What is not right is for him to impose such belief on others.

And lest he forget, the Constitution calls for separation of Church and State. The Church should not impose its tenets on the State, but it could with its flock. The State, on the other hand, has a concern and duty to all citizens, not just to a member of a particular church.

Again, if he only did his homework, he would have known that in several public consultations abroad, majority of our overseas Filipino workers have supported—in fact pleaded—for the lawmakers to pass the dissolution of marriage and divorce bill. In fact, it is the only bill supported by all the political blocs in the House.

As to charter change, Alejandro merely parroted the propaganda of those interest groups that it was meant to perpetuate political dynasties. But as the Speaker said, it is the flawed 1987 Constitution itself that bred and encouraged political dynasties, and that there are proposals in the new federal constitution being drafted, such as imposing age limits on politicians, to deter such practice.

At any rate, how can Alejandro say that there wouldn’t be any antidynasty provision in the federal charter when it is still an ongoing process? In fact, the House is still collating all the different proposed drafts of the federal charter and the consultative committee President Duterte created has barely begun its work.

Alejandro’s biased views cannot change the fact that under Alvarez the House transformed into an efficient working chamber. No more problems of quorum—a development that even the opposition bloc acknowledged and welcomed—and priority measures of the administration are swiftly acted upon.

If Alejandro can conveniently ignore the facts, this not only unmasks him as a bigot, but worse, it hints of the possibility he is doing a paid hack job.

CATHERINE AGBUYA Cavite City

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

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mst.daydesk@gmail.com

GUN GLUT: INDUSTRY’S WOES GO BEYOND POLITICS

By John Biers NEW YORK—Just two days before the school shooting in Florida revived the US gun control debate, debt-plagued gunmaker Remington Outdoor announced it will file for bankruptcy.

The financial woes of the more than 200-yearold company illustrate a paradox of the Trump era: weapon manufacturers miscalculated, ramping up production in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton presidency that would drive sales of those fearing increased gun control.

Instead, they got a period of political dominance for the powerful gun lobby accompanied by financial fragility for the gunmakers.

Since Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, gun manufacturers have struggled to deal with excess supply, forcing them to rein back manufacturing, cut jobs and slash prices, as well as prompting some executives to be replaced.

“Because Republicans are in control of both the White House and the Congress, the threat of increased gun regulation went way down and so the stocking behavior of consumers went way down,” said Emile Courtney, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings.

But since the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting, which left 14 students and three teachers dead, survivors from the Florida school have emerged as powerful advocates for gun control, urging Trump and others to take action.

On Friday, a stampede of major companies, including insurers Chubb and MetLife, security company Symantec and rental car giants Avis Budget Group, Enterprise Holdings and Hertz joined others in ending discount programs for National Rifle Association members.

The move came amid heightened pressure from some consumers as the “#BoycottNRA” hashtag trended on Twitter.

If past trends hold, the revived talk of gun restrictions in the wake of the mass shooting will boost gun sales as more consumers stockpile weapons amid worries they could be banned.

But it is unclear how that will affect the companies’ bottom line amid a rising tide of antagonism toward the gun lobby.

Sturm Ruger & Company this week became the latest industry player to detail the hit from slackening sales, reporting a 40 percent drop in 2017 profits to $52.1 million, a sharp pullback from the assessment of “stronger-than-normal demand during most of 2016.”

The company cut manufacturing of its firearms and has eliminated 700 jobs over the last year, 28 percent of its workforce, executives said on a conference call this week.

Sturm Ruger chief executive Christopher Killoy said the company had made progress in working down inventory amid the tough climate.

Christopher Metz, who was hired as chief executive of Vista Outdoor in October, said pricing is now “much more rational” compared with a significant part of last year.

“There were competitors that were trying to catch up with the kind of falling off the cliff demand,” Metz said early this month.

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, Trump has opened the door to some changes, such as endorsing a ban on “bump stocks,” an accessory that can turn a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic one, and urging stronger background checks.

But the president, who praised the National Rifle Association as “very, very great people,” also favors arming teachers, a stance ridiculed by educators.

Jeff Pistole, a gun dealer in Arkansas, expects the headlines to boost gun sales in the short run, especially for the AR-15, the gun used in Florida and many other mass shootings.

“Every time there’s a shooting, the price spikes on them and then after everything settles down, the price falls back down on them. And after Trump got elected, they got really cheap,” he said.

Pistole said the response to Parkland by gun control supporters has been much more muscular compared with the Las Vegas shooting in October, which resulted in 58 fatalities.

“There’s been a lot of backlash,” he said. “At first, people are saying ‘Oh, Trump’s president, we’re not worried...’ but with this one, there’s a lot going on in the media, so people are paying attention to it.”

This has also increased pressure on companies to cut ties with the gun industry.

First National Bank of Omaha announced Thursday it was withdrawing its NRAbranded Visa credit card.

“Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA,” First National Bank said on Twitter. “As a result, First National Bank of Omaha will not renew its contract with the National Rifle Association to issue the NRA Visa card.”

Asset manager BlackRock, a large shareholder in American Outdoor Brands, Sturm Ruger and Vista, said it planned to speak with gunmakers following the Florida shooting, but would not sell the shares, according to news reports. AFP

SWISS CHOCOLATIER SUES WEINSTEIN COMPANY NEW YORK—One of the most famous chocolate companies in the world is seemingly the latest victim in the Harvey Weinstein scandal, filing a US lawsuit against the disgraced mogul’s former company over a canceled Golden Globes party.

Swiss chocolatier Lindt and Sprungli claims in the suit filed this week in New York that The Weinstein Company, now on the brink of bankruptcy, owes it $133,333.

BARGAIN...

From A4

was “The Battle of Villa Fiorita” (1963), in a Reader’s Digest condensed format. “Two English children travel to Italy to rescue their wayward mother from her lover and save their family,” goes a Goodreads synopsis, and reading it as a child in the ‘70s I thought it empowering, as the young teenagers in the story had the agency to bring about the change they wanted. To have two more God-

In the suit filed this week, the chocolate makers said they had a $400,000, three-year sponsorship deal at Weinstein Golden Globes parties. But while the events went as planned in 2016-17, this year’s event “did not occur.”

Lindt, suing for an unspecified amount of damages and breach of contract, said that it had been asking since December for the reimbursement of $133,333, adding that the company had promised to pay the invoice but

den novels to enjoy, thanks to the Big Bad Wolf sale, is a real treat.

There was a dizzying array of adult coloring books and craft and hobby books. I was glad to feed my other artistic interests, snapping up a stitch dictionary by Mary Webb—needlework books are few and far between here—and a drawing and painting guide by Hazel Harrison.

There are a great many children’s and young adult titles to choose from and this is a great opportunity for parents looking to set up their kids’ library. Fantastic bargains can

failed to do so.

More than 100 women have accused Weinstein of decades of sexual harassment, assault and even rape, leading to his career annihilation and a US reckoning about harassment and abuse that has ended the careers of a litany of powerful men.

Since the scandal flared in October, dozens of civil suits have been brought against Weinstein and the company he co-founded, mostly by women who accuse him

of sexual misconduct.

On Feb. 11, New York prosecutors sued the firm for failing to protect employees from years of his alleged sexual harassment despite multiple complaints from staff.

The suit stalled a bid to buy the flailing company by an investor group led by former Barack Obama administration official and businesswoman Maria ContrerasSweet that had been poised to close a deal for a reported $500 million. AFP

be had in cookbooks, art, religious, and history books.

Writer Alex Alcasid and voice actor Jose Manuel Torres, both in their mid-20s, enjoyed their trip to Big Bad Wolf.

“What I liked about it,” said Alcasid, “was that there were so many books, so many selections, among them titles and authors I had not heard of before. The venue was spacious and everything was laid out by genre, which made it easy to browse. Every so often they would break open big boxes to restock so that there were

no empty tables. The entire event was well organized.”

Torres was pleased at the affordability of the books. “I was able to get books I could not normally buy because of my budget.”

Today is the last day of the sale and if you haven’t gone yet, you have until midnight to do so. Happy book hunting!

Dr. Ortuoste is a writer and communications consultant.

Facebook: @DrJennyO, Twitter: @ jennyortuoste

World

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor

TALIBAN STORMS AFGHAN BASE, KILLS 18 SOLDIERS KABUL, Afghanistan—Taliban militants stormed an Afghan army base in the western province of Farah overnight, killing at least 18 soldiers, officials said Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks in the war-torn country.

“Last night a big group of militants attacked an army base in Bala Buluk district of Farah. Unfortunately, we lost 18 soldiers, two soldiers were wounded.

We have sent more reinforcements to the area,” defense ministry spokesman Daulat Wazir said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, at least three people were killed, and more than a dozen wounded in multiple suicide bombings in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks in the war-torn country.

One suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the diplomatic area of Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing at least one person and wounding six others, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP. AFP

FLORIDA TO POST POLICE OFFICERS AT EVERY SCHOOL MIAMI—A police officer will be stationed at every public school in Florida, the state’s governor announced Friday as part of a plan to improve security following last week’s deadly high school shooting.

President Donald Trump repeated his call, meanwhile, for arming some of America’s teachers and claimed the controversial proposal was increasingly drawing support.

The push to make schools safer came as the local sheriff ’s office released details of nearly two dozen visits to the residences of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old behind the assault at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida.

Speaking at a news conference in the state capital Tallahassee, Republican Governor Rick Scott unveiled a $450 million security plan in response to the Valentine’s Day rampage.

“There is nothing more important than the safety of our children,” Scott said. “We must take care of our kids.”

“I am proposing at least one law enforcement officer for every 1,000 students,” Scott said of putting police in public schools.

Asked about Trump’s proposal that teachers carry concealed weapons, Scott replied: “My focus is on providing more law enforcement officers, not on arming the teachers.”

Scott proposed a ban on “bump stocks”—an accessory which turns a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic one—and making it easier for courts “to prohibit a violent or mentally ill person from purchasing or possessing a firearm.” He also said the age for gun buyers in the state would be raised from 18 to 21 -- a move opposed by the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby. AFP

TRUMP CAMPAIGN DEPUTY GATES ADMITS FRAUD WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s former campaign deputy Rick Gates pleaded guilty Friday to fraud and lying, pledging to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller on his vast probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gates was the third former Trump aide to agree to cooperate in exchange for reduced charges by Mueller, who is also examining Moscow’s alleged collusion with the Trump campaign and whether the president illegally sought to obstruct his probe.

The plea deal in a Washington federal court, on charges much reduced from the original ones filed against Gates, immediately put him at odds with his former business partner and ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who refuses to bow to pressure from Mueller to strike a deal.

Manafort has countersued Mueller, accusing the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director of going far beyond his Justice Department mandate in the probe.

A new indictment against Manafort accuses him of having secretly paid a group of former senior European politicians more than two million euros ($2.5 million) to lobby for the government of Ukraine’s former pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych.

Gates and Manafort were originally charged on October 30 with multiple counts of laundering $75 million and tax evasion related to their work from 2006 to 2014 for Yanukovych. AFP

BEST MATES. United States President Donald Trump (right) and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gesture to the media following a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Friday. AFP

Y

BOMBS HIT CAPITAL OF RAKHINE STATE

ANGON, Myanmar—Three bombs exploded early Saturday in the capital of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a cauldron of ethnic tensions roiled by insurgencies and a military crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya, injuring one policeman, officials said.

The three blasts at separate locations around Sittwe, included one at the home of a high ranking official, police told AFP. Besides the bloody campaign against the Rohingya, Rakhine has been struggling with a decadelong rebellion fought by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist insurgents, but bombings in the state capital are rare.

“Three bombs exploded, and three other unexploded bombs were found. A police officer was injured but not seriously,” a senior officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The blasts took place around 4 a.m. (2130 GMT Friday), the officer said.

One was detonated in the compound of the state government secretary’s home, while the two others exploded in front of an office in the

city and on a road leading to a beach.

A local official from the state government confirmed the explosions.

Photos of the sites showed shattered windows and scattered debris.

“Some streets are being blocked by police already because of the bomb blasts,” Zaw Zaw, a resident of Sittwe, told AFP by phone.

In recent months, unrest in Rakhine has been concentrated in the state’s northern wedge, where a sweeping military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim community last August pushed nearly 700,000 refugees across the border to Bangladesh.

But the restive state also hosts a simmering insurgency waged by a Rakhine Buddhist rebel group called the Arakan Army, which clashes with Myanmar troops.

Unlike the Rohingya Muslims, the

Rakhine are recognized by the government as an ethnic minority but are still marginalized in a country historically dominated by the Bamar (Burmese) majority.

Tensions between the community and local authorities shot through since after a police crackdown on an ethnic Rakhine mob left seven dead last month.

That violence in Mrauk U township prompted the Arakan Army’s political wing to warn of a “serious” retaliation for the deaths of the protesters.

Around two weeks later the town’s administrator was found murdered on the side of the road.

David Mathieson, an independent analyst based in Myanmar, said Saturday’s Sittwe blasts were more likely tied to ethnic Rakhine tensions than the Rohingya crisis, whose epicenter is further north.

The Arakan Army is “the only armed group operating in central Rakhine that would have the sophistication to do something like this”, he told AFP. Coordinated strikes in an urban

area would however mark a “significant escalation” of that rebellion, which typically sees clashes outside the capital.

He said it was unlikely that the bombs were linked to the Rohingya -- who also have a militant wing -- as very few Muslims have mobility in the capital.

Sittwe was once home to a sizeable Rohingya population but most were forced to abandon their homes by deadly communal violence in 2012.

Today a small community of Rohingya are confined to a Muslim enclave in the city while more than 100,000 others are still trapped in squalid displacement camps outside the capital.

Over the past six months, the clear majority of Myanmar’s 1.1-million Rohingya population have emptied out of northern Rakhine in the mass exodus to Bangladesh.

Refugees said they were fleeing a brutal army assault that saw troops team up with ethnic Rakhine mobs to torch homes, murder civilians and commit mass rape. AFP

SYRIA POUNDS REBEL BASE; NO U.N. DEAL IN SIGHT DOUMA, Syria—Syrian regime air strikes and artillery fire hit the rebelheld enclave of Eastern Ghouta for a sixth straight day Friday killing 38 civilians, as world powers struggled to

reach a United Nations deal to stop the carnage.

More than 460 civilians, including over 100 children, have been killed in nearly a week of bombardment that

WAR SHOCK. Hala, 9, receives treatment at a makeshift hospital following Syrian government bombardments on rebel-held town of Saqba, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on Thursday. AFP

has been one of the seven-year conflict’s bloodiest episodes.

Diplomatic haggling delayed a vote at the United Nations Security Council on a 30-day truce, with Kuwait’s Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi, who holds the council presidency, saying “we are very close” to agreement with Russia, Syria’s ally.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet at noon Saturday to vote on a draft resolution demanding a 30day ceasefire, but it remained unclear whether Russia will veto the proposed measure.

Amid the wrangling, United States President Donald Trump slammed the actions of the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian supporters as a “humanitarian disgrace.”

Few of Eastern Ghouta’s nearly 400,000 residents -- mostly living in a scattering of towns across the semirural area east of the capital -- ventured out on Friday.

An AFP correspondent in Douma, the enclave’s main town, saw a handful of people stealthily crossing rubblestrewn streets to assess damage to their property or look for food and water.

The bombing has been relentless since government and allied forces intensified their campaign on Sunday and rocket fire soon forced everybody to run for cover.

Exhausted and famished families cowered in cramped and damp basements, exchanging information on the latest casualties of the government’s blitz.

Fresh strikes by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally, killed at least 38 civilians, including 11 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The latest deaths brought to 468 the number of people killed -- among them 108 children -- since the escalation of the bombardment of the besieged area on February 18.

More than 2,000 people have been wounded.

Rebels have been firing back into the capital Damascus, where a hospital was hit, the official Syrian news agency SANA said.

At the UN, US Ambassador Nikki Haley expressed dismay as negotiations dragged on to secure Russian approval for the ceasefire that would allow humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations.

“Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria,” Haley posted on Twitter.

“How many more people will die before the Security Council agrees to take up this vote? Let’s do this tonight. The Syrian people can’t wait.” AFP

Sports

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 reuelvidal@yahoo.com

CASIO TRIPLE DOUBLE LIFTS ALASKA TO WIN

By Reuel Vidal

L

I K E f i n e w i n e A l a s k a Ace s p o i n t g u a rd J ve e Ca s i o s e e m s to j u s t g e t b e t te r w i t h a g e.

At age 31, Casio achieved a career milestone by completing his first ever triple double in a Philippine Basketball Association game when he scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and issued two assists (to go with two steals) to power Alaska past the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 99-95, last Friday.

Casio played an instrumental role in the victory. He converted a layup then drilled a three-pointer as the Aces finally took command of the game when they posted an eight-point, 83-75, lead with 8:02 to go in the match.

The Elasto Painters not only cut the gap but actually took the lead after a basket

by James Yap which found Alaska trailing by a point, 9495 with 1:30 to go in a game.

Vic Manuel got the ball during Alaska’s next offensive sequence. He dribbled into the shaded area, pivoted to his left, then converted a jump hook which pushed Alaska ahead by a point, 9695 with 40 seconds left to play.

Casio then grabbed a defensive rebound after a Yap

missed triple, drew a foul, and then drained the two free throws which gave them a three-point lead, 98-95, with 11 seconds to play.

Kevin Racal finalized the count at 99-95 with a free throw.

A l a s k a missed the services of Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz and Chris Banchero. Abueva and Cruz were in Australia playing for the Gilas national team while Banchero is recovering from an injury.

Their absence gave the other Alaska players their opportunity to shine. Marion Magat played the best offensive game of his career as he scored from the perimeter at will to finish with 14 markers. It was good enough to earn him a share of the Best Player of the Game citation with Casio.

Jeron Teng finished with 14 markers. Kevin Racal had 13 points. Manuel bulldozed his way into the paint for 12 points. Sonny Thoss had

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters guard Maverick Ahanmisi (13) drives strong to the hoop and challenges the defense of Alaska Aces big man Marion Magat (left) even as Alaska guard Jvee Casio looks on.

Kyrie Irving

BOSTON CELTICS DISMANTLE PISTONS

Alaska Aces point guard Jvee Casio (42) dribbles past Rain or Shine Elasto Painters defender Maverick Ahanmisi. Casio powered the Aces to a 99-95 victory over the Elasto Painters.

10 markers including a rimrattling dunk. Simon Enciso sniped from the outside and submitted 10 points.

The hotly contested game saw 33 lead changes and nine deadlocks.

Rain or Shine’s Maverick Ahanmisi fired a game-high 23 points, on top of five rebounds, five assists and five steals. He scored 15 of his total points in the fourth period almost powering the Elasto Painters to victory.

With the victory the Aces (7 wins, 4 losses) climbed into third place behind the San Miguel Beermen (8-2) and the Magnolia Hotshots (7-3).

More importantly the win ensured that the Aces will not finish lower than sixth place which means they advance to the best-of-three quarterfinals and will not be saddled with a twice-to-win handicap.

The other teams include the NLEX Road Warriors (6-4) the Elasto Painters (54), Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (5-5), the GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-5) and the

Blackwater Elite (5-6).

This means that even if Ginebra and GlobalPort sweep their remaining games to tie Alaska in the standings the Aces will still advance after the tie break because they beat both those teams in the elimination round.

The Aces however will not

Alaska Aces big man Vic Manuel (right) starts his drive against Rain or Shine Elasto Painters counterpart Beau Belga (15).

AUNG CAPTURES ONE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CROWN BURMESE martial arts hero Aung La N Sang scored a quick knockout victory over Alexandre Machado to win the vacant ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship and the GoDaddy Knockout of the Night at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar last Friday, Feb. 23.

N Sang added yet another accolade to his glowing repertoire of awards as a global martial arts superstar. He got the job done in just 56 seconds of the second round knocking out Machado with a thunderous high kick during ONE: Quest for Gold.

With his remarkable conquest of Machado, N Sang now owns both the ONE Middleweight World Championship and ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship titles.

“Life is short, we have to make it count. One thing is for sure Myanmar, when we’re united, nothing can stop us. That head kick is what we’ve been working on. I want to thank everyone that helped me out to get here. I’m in here by myself, but this is a team sport. If we’re united and we’re together, we can do anything. I want to be the best and I want to defend these two belts. I’m not just going to hold them and leave,” said N Sang.

In the co-main event of the evening, former world title challenger Ev “E.T.” Ting turned in an outstanding performance by routing Costa

Burmese martial arts hero Aung La N Sang acknowledges the cheers of fans as he is introduced during ONE: Quest for Gold promotion in Yangon, Myanmar. ONE Championship

Rican martial artist Ariel Sexton, solidifying his position once again as a top contender in ONE Championship’s stacked lightweight division.

Ting took the fight right to Sexton. He connected on a series of fast and powerful strikes, pushing his opponent back up against the cage.

gain a twice-to-beat advantage even if the Hotshots lose their last game because Magnolia beat Alaska in the elimination round.

Bringing up the rear are the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (4-6), the TNT KaTropa (46), the Meralco Bolts (4-6) and the Kia Picanto (1-10).

In the second round, Ting continued to blast Sexton with serious firepower, featuring his best striking combinations.

Sexton tried to change the complexion of the bout in the third round, fishing for a finish with a flying knee and a submission attempt.

Ting did just enough to pull away slightly in the third after a grueling match, and came out victorious via split decision.

In a much-awaited encounter of ONE Championship’s highly-skilled knockout artists, Timofey Nastyukhin emerged triumphant, claiming a unanimous decision victory over Singaporean Muay Thai champion Amir Khan.

Nastyukhin exhibited stellar form from the get-go, bombarding Khan with strong overhand rights while looking for the opening to deliver his lethal left hook. Leaning on his heavy hands to overwhelm Khan’s precision striking, Nastyukhin pushed forward and threatened to end matters with a flying knee and stifled his opponent with harrowing punches. Nastyukhin punctuated the marquee match-up by outstriking Khan in the third frame, earning a unanimous decision from all three judges at cageside.

Manila

Standard

TODAY

LOS ANGELES—The Celtics returned from the All-Star break with a 110-98 victory over the Pistons in Detroit.

The Celtics were hurting heading into the break, losing three straight and four of five to fall two games behind the Raptors for the Eastern Conference lead.

It appeared the break, and the return of guard Marcus Smart, who missed 11 games after cutting his hand punching a glass picture frame, were just what the Celtics needed.

Leading 77-73 with 2:47 left in the third quarter, Boston mounted a 22-6 scoring run to seize control, limiting the Pistons to three field goals in the span.

Elsewhere, the Milwaukee Bucks turned the tables on Eastern Conference leaders Toronto on Friday, winning 122-119 in overtime to snap the Raptors’ seven-game NBA winning streak.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 26 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Bucks.

Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas slammed down a dunk at the buzzer in regulation to send the game to overtime.

But the Bucks, with 21 points apiece from Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton, emerged with the victory over a Raptors team that had won 15 of their 17 prior encounters.

“You’ve got to understand, this team sent us home last year,” Bucks guard Jason Terry said in a halftime television interview.

“This game is personal. This is a pride thing.”

Toronto and Milwaukee also went to overtime on January 1, when DeMar DeRozan set a Toronto franchise record with 52 points in the Raptors’ 131-127 victory.

It looked like they would pull it off again when Toronto scored the first five points of overtime, but successive three-pointers by Terry and Middleton capped an 8-0 Bucks scoring run that gave Milwaukee a 118115 lead with 1:58 remaining and they wouldn’t fall behind again. AFP

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

This is to inform the public that LORNA CILLAN-SILVERIO, whose picture appears above, has been perpetually enjoined by the Regional Trial Court of Makati from acting or representing herself as a stockholder, director, and/or officer of PILIPINAS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (“PDC”), and/or from performing or exercising control, management and/ or administration of PDC and of all its assets/properties.

Also perpetually enjoined are Andre J. Basa, Felicissima Santos, NeliaSilverio-Dee, Demer Layan, and all persons claiming under them and/or acting for or in their behalf.

Any transactions made by the foregoing persons, and/or all persons claiming under them and/or acting for or in their behalf will not be honored by PDC. Anyone dealing with them shall be considered as their co-conspirators, accomplices, and accessories and thus, will be dealt with accordingly.

For inquiries or clarifications, please contact Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices at Telephone Numbers: (632) 846-6247 to 51 or email at kapunanlaw@kapunanlaw.com.

(MS-FEB. 22,25 & 28, 2018)

A8

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Randy Caluag, Issue Editor

Sports

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

SIKLAB AWARDS

YOUNG ACHIEVERS TO TAKE CENTERSTAGE

Seventeen-year-old Rex Luis Krog has put the Philippines into the international map once again as he bagged the silver medal in the recent Asian Cycling Championship in Myanmar.

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OUNG athletes need a lot of sacrifices, time and resources to achieve their ultimate dreams in sports. There’s one intangible factor, though, that could complete their recipe for success—motivation.

Their parents and their personal sports idols may have already been providing the inspiration. To up the motivation, give them the recognition they deserve and that could push them to work harder and better.

The POC-PSC Media Group, the core of sportswriters covering the national athletes, will confer awards and recognition to young Filipino athletes, aged 17 years old and below, who have excelled in both the local and international scenes.

To be called Siklab Awards, the recognition body is the first of its kind in the country to be given every year in cooperation with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the other stakeholders and other non-government institutions.

The 1st Siklab Awards Night is set in April.

“This should serve as an inspiration to our young athletes, our rising stars, to achieve greater heights. We are so excited to be part of this pioneering endeavor,” said Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) Training Director Mark Velasco, who’s tasks include the propagation of the PSC’s grassroots program involving children from the countryside.

One of his brainchild programs is the Children’s Games that has been recognized by the United Nation for its role in developing values for children.

Major highlights of the Awards are the Young Heroes awardees who have brought honor to the country in international competitions.

Among the nominees are Rex Luis Krog

in cycling, Samantha Kyle Catantan in fencing and Veruel Verdadero in athletics.

Seventeen-year-old Rex Luis Krog made the Philippines proud in bagging the silver medal in the Asian Cycling Championship in Myanmar, where he was just 11 seconds behind the top winner from Japan.

A 10th grader at Lorraine Senior High School in Caloocan, Krog also won a gold medal in the Tawau Cycling Challenge in Malaysia, last December 2017.

A product of Batang Pinoy, Luis ended the medal drought of Philcycling after seven long years and is now ready to take the road for another cycling adventure.

Catantan, at 15 years old, was included in the in the roster to represent the country in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia. She did not disappoint as she copped a silver medal in the fencing foil event.

Catantan was the two-time champion of the junior Universities Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and was recently named as the Most Valuable Player of the league in junior’s event.

Verdadero emerged the“Fastest Man” in last year’s Palarong Pambansa in Sultan Kudarat by winning the century dash.

A 15-year old 9th grader at Emilio Aguinaldo College in Dasmarinas,Verdadero was also a bronze medalist of Southeast Asian Youth Athletics championship that was held in Ilagan, Isabela. After that, he bagged the gold for the 400m and 100m dash in the last year’s staging of Palarong Pambansa.

“By doing this Siklab Awards, we hope to inspire and motivate our youth to strive more and lead the next generation of vibrant leaders,” said the media group’s president, June Navarro.

tight final contest to eventual gold winner Daniel Petrov Bujilov from Bulgaria.

Twenty years later, a female lifter from Zamboanga duplicated Velasco’s feat.

Diaz became the third Filipino silver medalist in the Olympics and the first female athlete from the Philippines to bring home an Olympic medal.

The country’s first silver medal came from another boxer, featherweight Anthony Villanueva, in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

The Philippines has so far won 10 medals, seven are bronze.

The Philippines has not yet won an Olympic gold medal since competing in the inaugural in 1924.

With this in mind, the media group will also launch during the Siklab Awards, a sports program for street children in partnership with a non-government organization, Buklod-Lingap Foundation in putting up the Seeds of Greatness project.

Seeds of Greatness will try to look for the diamond in the rough by allowing street children to participate in different kinds of sports under the mentorship of coaches from the Philippines national team scheduled every weekend.

This life-changing experience for underprivileged kids will not only teach them the benefits of getting into sports but it will also help us identify new talents for the national team through unconventional means.

Buklod Lingap chairman Edward Aguilar said they will start the program first in Metro Manila, extending to nearby province before going nationwide.

“Who knows, baka ang first gold medalist natin sa OIympics ay batang galing sa sa lansangan,” he said.

Meanwhile, it’s time to shine for current young achievers, who will, at the right time, will take over the place of their more illustrious seniors in the national team.

Veruel Verdadero in tears of joy after winning a race.

Navarro said more than 50 rising stars from different sports disciplines will be awarded.

Equally significant is the Batang Siklab trophies to be given to those who have excelled in local tournaments, including their National Sports Association’s national age-group tournaments, the PSC’s Batang Pinoy and Children’s Games, and the Palarong Pambansa, organized annually by the Department of Education.

To top it all, Siklab will also choose two to three Sports Idols awardees, who will serve as models for the young athletes to emulate in their quest for greater glory.

In the nominee list are Olympic silver medalists, Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco of boxing and Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting.

Velasco bagged the flyweight silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He narrowly missed the gold by losing in a

Samantha Kyle Catantan is a fencing star in the making.

SOLAIRE PHL OPEN TIES UP WITH ONE ASIA THE Solaire Philippine Open’s historic 100th staging gets a boost as it will be co-sanctioned

by One Asia when the record $600,000 event is held Feb. 28-March 3 at The Country Club in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

“We welcome One Asia as a key partner of the Solaire Philippine Open,” said Enrique K. Razon Jr., International Container Terminal Services, Inc. chairman and president. “The partnership comes at an opportune time when we are marking the Centennial staging of Asia’s oldest National Open and One Asia is relaunching its branding.”

According to One Asia officials, they are refreshing all their corporate identities beginning with their logo website and collaterals and will be re-launching the premier Asia-Pacific circuit by co-sanctioning the 100th Solaire Philippine Open.

The co-organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. and the National Golf Association of the Philippines have assembled a stellar international field for the blueribbon event sponsored by Solaire Resort and Casino, including at least six former champions, vying for the top purse of $108,000.

The Phl Open, sponsored

by ICTSI, Meralco, PLDT, Smart, Bulgari, Diamond Motor Corp., BDO, Central Azucarera de Tarlac, Amon Trading, Dynamic Sports and Custom Clubmakers, will also serve as the final leg of the inaugural PGT Asia Tour, which ICTSI launched late last year with an eight-leg circuit to provide a new platform for Filipino players and foreign campaigners to compete in the region.

The PGTA is also aimed at providing players the venue for global shotmakers to hone their games in preparation for other pro tournaments around the world.

“While the Solaire Philippine Open will provide the lore and golfing tradition to One Asia, the event will serve as the stage for the elite international field, including the top Filipino players, to showcase their skills and talent against the best in Asia-Pacific,” said Mr. Razon.

Put up in 2009, One Asia has recently been blessed with the entry and investment from a group of serious investors from various Asian countries, giving the circuit a clean and fresh start without any of the historical financial encumbrance of the past.

With One Asia’s top players expected to compete in the Philippine Open, the chase for top honors is expected to be tight and fierce with the wind-raked TCC also tipped to provide the challenge with its world-class set-up, including its length that measures up to 7,300 yards from the back tees.

Headlining the field are defending champion Steve Lewton of England and former winners Mardan Mamat (2012) of Singapore, Marcus Both (2014) of Australia, Miguel Tabuena (2015), Angelo Que (2008) and Frankie Miñoza, who won in 1998 and 2007.

GINEBRA STAR JERVY CRUZ GRACES TOBY’S 3X3

The top winners in the event will have a chance to get invited to the coming UA 3x3.

UNDER Armour PH athlete and PBA Ginebra Star Jervy Cruz successfully graced and inspired the participants in the recent Toby’s District 3x3, Imus Cavite.

With 112 players 28 teams joined the Basketball 3x3, 10 teams for Open Category, 10 teams for Under 18 Category and 8 teams for Under 14 Category all in fire showcased their skills on 3x3 Basketball.

This route is in accord to the roadmap plan for the FIBA 3X3 Asia Cup in the Philippines this June.

Toby’s Sports, the leading multi-brand sports retailer in the Philippines, launched Toby’s Imus

Store and held a Basketball 3x3 as part of the activities recently at The District Ayala Imus Cavite.

Christine Majadillas, owner of Toby’s Franchise Imus/Managing Director of One of A Kind Marketing said “This is a launch of the summer-long sport’s campaign of Tobys sports. Basketball being the no. 1 sports in the Philippines is the pilot activity of the many sports activities we will be doing this summer. And the portion of the proceeds of this program will go to Kings David foundation and we shall have another activity come March.”

“We are happy to have worked with the different clubs and school

here in the south to have this platform for us to identify talents from the south and a bonus is that we shall have a wildcard for this as we give them a bigger avenue come Under Armour Southeast Asia’s Ultimate 3x 3 this year. We are working with the best coaches in the country, NBA Phil coaches such as Coach Christian Luanson and the local Coaches of the south. We are happy that UA, Sanctband Wilson and Ayala have supported this event and One of A Kind Marketing, the franchise of Toby’s Sports District Imus.”

The Culminating activity was graced by the partner/owner Director for Sales Ali Lumio and Allan

Majadillas, Chief Operating Officer of One of A Kind Marketing, also the Tournament Director of the said event.

The event was made possible with Sanctband, Wilson, Under Armour, The District Ayala Imus and Metro Gaisano.

Next UA 3X3 Leg will be on March 22, eliminations, finals at Ayala District Imus March 23, and April 28 and 29 Bonifacio Global City. Secure your slots now at Tobys District Imus and via email vjasonclinton@gmail.com.

Watch out for the next 3x3 event. For updates please check out Toby’s District Imus and FB Sanctband Club PH.

B1

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

ATENCIO NOW CHAIR OF FINTECH COMPANY

8990 Holdings president and chief executive Januario Jesus “JJ” Atencio

THE board of directors of Acudeen Technologies Inc., led by founding chairman Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III, has appointed former 8990 Holdings president and chief executive Januario Jesus “JJ” Atencio as the company’s new chairman.

“As the chairman of Acudeen, I’ve always believed that in order to be in the forefront of anything, you really have to just let your vision go and back that vision with a certain commitment, whether it’s an emotional commitment or even a financial commitment. I don’t want to be just an investor in Acudeen, I believe in Magellan’s vision for this business, and I am willing to have an active role to support it,” said Atencio after the recently held board meeting.

“We have big plans for Acudeen.

Our vision to support MSMEs does not end in the country, it is only the beginning. We have activated our market expansion initiatives in Southeast Asia early this year. Having Atencio as our chairman gives us a massive boost in terms of business experience, expertise, and resources,” Fetalino said.

Atencio is widely credited, together with his partners, for the success of 8990 Holdings, which has evolved into the leading mass housing developer in his 20 years with the company.

Acudeen started off in 2016 and has since then helped micro, small and medium-sized entities to finance their 30-120 day receivables ahead of time. In less than two years, invoices totaling over $3 million have changed ownership and provided liquidity to over 400 MSMEs. Individuals and corporates purchasing those invoices benefited from attractive returns for short-term cash. The early success and its economic impact in emerging markets has been recognized with numerous rewards, including being named Winner of the Global Seedstars Summit 2017.

Acudeen originated from its fo u n d e r s’ v i s i o n o f c re at i n g a financially inclusive environment for unbanked and underbanked micro, small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets.

The name Acudeen stems from the Filipino words “ako” and “din”, which means “me too” in English. As one of the founders, Fetalino said: “We want every entrepreneur to have the capability to say ‘Ako din’ or I have the capability to grow too.”

“I am supporting Acudeen because it is in the forefront of this new whole world; this wild, wild west if you will, that continuously benefits a wide range of underserved people in the current financial system. Financial inclusion is right around the corner with the emergence of this initiative,” Atencio said.

ESCA Inc. founder and chairman Dr. Ernesto de Castro and CEO Jean Jacquelyn Nathania de Castro lead the celebration of the company’s 35th anniversary at Manila House Private Club in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Sonny Espiritu

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER SEES PH AS GLOBAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

O

NE of the country’s leading structural engineers, who handled gargantuan projects such as SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan province and other landmarks in the country and overseas, believes that digital technology can make the Philippines a global center of engineering excellence.

“I would like to see Filipino engineers become a recognized and respected global brand and the Philippines as a center of excellence for engineering services. We have a lot Filipino engineers. We have the opportunity to train them so that they can be valuable to the construction industry,” says Dr. Ernesto de Castro, the 72-yearold founder, chairman and president of ESCA Inc., an engineering services company considered as a pioneer in the use and promotion of Building Information Modeling or BIM in the Philippines.

BIM refers to the digitization of building models representing the physical environment. De Castro believes that BIM will transform the way engineers design, construct and manage structures.

ESCA, an engineering services company named after de Castro that celebrated its 35th anniversary on Feb. 21 at the Manila House Private Club in Bonifacio Global City, offers structural design, civil engineering and project and construction management services. It also has an academy that trains engineers on the use of BIM and has an international outsourcing division that provides engineering services to global clients.

“BIM is the backbone and fundamental basis for digitizing the build environment,” says de Castro. “We have to ride on and embrace this technology.”

De Castro believes that Filipino engineers, with proper training on BIM, are world-class. “We have

a lot of Filipino engineers working overseas and they are totally in demand overseas. I visited Kuwait, Qatar, other parts of the Middle East, Singapore, Brunei. If I talk to clients, they say like Filipino engineers better than the others. Filipinos are talented. We should develop more our Filipino engineers,” he says.

ESCA has already outsourced engineering services to the United States and other countries.

“We are providing them engineering services from the Philippines. The work is done here, but the design is applied overseas. That is outsourcing.

If we have thousands of engineers doing this, we will be getting a lot of overseas work here. It will be a huge income for the Philippines,” says de Castro.

“At ESCA, we have seen the future and we have started a journey to where we have a digitized environment. We are the first to have used BIM in project management. We are the first to have created a training center in BIM, on how to do the process of managing the information through the process. We have already digitized 2 million square meters of buildings for our clients. And we want to make that better. And we want to be better and faster in modeling,” he says.

De Castro says with the use of BIM, “we can estimate a building project in a few hours. We are working in the company to automate scheduling such that we can schedule your project in a few hours. But we are not going to stop there. In the next few months and within the year, we will be able to give you the 6D of BIM which is the performance level. We will provide for you computational BIM. If there is any area, shape, function or form that needs to be optimized, we can work with you using computational BIM.” De Castro says while the Philippines has nearly half a million engineers, only a few have been trained on BIM. He says the country has an opportunity to become the world’s leading engineering services provider through this digital technology.

“We have to digitize and start digitization with the use of technology. Let us give the technology to our people, give the opportunity to train them,

give the opportunity to work with them. With the support of our industry partners, we can form together a big organization where we can have outstanding engineering services. Once we have a critical mass of Filipino of engineers, that can make us a center of engineering excellence in the world,” says de Castro, who also served as a dean, chancellor, professor, construction arbitrator and undersecretary in the Cabinet of the late President Corazon Aquino.

De Castro says tapping digital technology will help achieve the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure program.

“The World Economic Forum says we are behind in terms of infrastructure, the second to the last among 10 Asean countries in terms of the quality and number of our infrastructure. We responded by coming up with P8-trillion projects in the next five years. One year has gone and we are not close to a half a trillion pesos. But it can be done [faster] with technology... You can imagine if our structures are built in a few months, instead of several years, imagine the economic growth that we will be experiencing,” says de Castro, who has a PhD in Civil Engineering, Major in Structures from Lehigh University in the United States.

He graduated with a BS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1967 and an MS degree in Civil Engineering from the same university in 1968. Jorge Consunji, president and chief executive of construction firm D.M. Consunji Inc., once described de Castro as an engineer ahead of his time.

“My father built our company from scratch and it has grown the past 35 years now with almost 200 employees,” says Jean Jacquelyn Nathania de Castro, a corporate lawyer and former host of Bloomberg TV Philippines who now serves as the chief executive of ESCA Inc. Jean, 37, is married to fellow lawyer Alfredo Molo III, who studied in UP and Harvard University.

“The company has sustained itself crisis after crisis after crisis—the oil crisis in the 1970s, the dollar crisis in the 1980s, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. I realized later on that this was how we survived— Turn to B2

PH AIMS TO INCREASE FOOD EXPORTS TO JAPAN JAPAN remains the top destination for Philippine bananas, with $231.3 million in export sales in 2016.

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, aimns to augment the Philippines’ trade relations with Japan as it showcases the country’s finest tropical flavors in the largest food fair in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under Food Philippines brand, DTICitem will bring the country’s top exporters of tropical fruits, beverages and other processed food to the 43rd International Food and Beverage Exhibition, popularly known as FoodEx Japan, on March 6 to 9 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

“Japanese people are no stranger to

us. We know that they have a penchant for our tropical fruits and that is what we are looking to showcase as we return to FoodEx,” said Nora Terrado, DTI undersecretary for trade and investments promotion and Citem officer-in-charge.

“We will also feature other tropical food and ingredients to widen the line of Philippine products shipped to Japan and promote the country as a premier sourcing destination,” said Terrado.

FoodEx is known as a major gateway to the Japanese market. Last year, the four-day event welcomed over 3,000 local and international exhibitors, as well as more than 82,000 buyers from the food manufacturing, service, distribution and trading sectors across the global food industry.

Aside from Japan, FoodEx is also vastly participated in by buyers from major regions, such as Europe, America, Africa and Australia.

In 2017, 17 local firms under the Food Philippines pavilion bagged $7.4 million worth of export sales. For this upcoming participation, Citem seeks to generate at least $10 million in export sales from buyers around the world.

Japan is the Philippines’ largest export destination for fresh foods and the second largest market for processed food, next to the United States.

According to preliminary reports from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Japan is among the top export destinations of the country with 16.42 percent total share to total merchandise exports in January to November 2017.

The Philippines is the world’s secondlargest producer of coconut and banana, according to the 2015 data of the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Department of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, the country is also a top global producer of pineapple (3rd), canned tuna (4th), and mango (10th), based on a 2013 data of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

With the existing Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, Japan provides an attractive and vast market for Philippine food suppliers to serve the retail, food service and manufacturing industries.

Data from the Japan External Trade Organization also show that Japan’s foreign direct investments in the country reached $724.71 million, while

Philippine investments in Japan reached $14.165 million in the first nine months of 2017.

FoodPhilippines’ participation in the FoodEx Japan 2018 is organized

by Citem, in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Tokyo and Philippine Trade Training Center, as one of the DTI’s major efforts to intensify the promotion of Philippine specialty food products in trade shows overseas.

Citem said it is committed to developing, nurturing and promoting globally competitive small and medium enterprises, exporters, designers and manufacturers by implementing an integrated approach to export marketing in partnership with other government and private entities.

Business

B2

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 business@manilastandard.net

STRUCTURAL...

From B1

by innovating and by expanding into new uncharted territory beyond our core service,” says Jean, who was an Oblation scholar at UP-Diliman, where she graduated magna cum laude from the Political Science Program in 2001.

She received her law degree from the same university in 2006.

“It is this legacy of innovation and being ahead of the curve that really allowed us to survive. Nothing was gonna stop him from going ahead.

He created not just a company but a movement to elevate the Filipino engineers to be the standard in the world,” Jean says of his father.

Ernesto de Castro, whose father was in the construction business, first worked as a design engineer in the 1970s at DCCD Engineering Corp. where he completed the structural design of the now defunct Hotel Intercontinental in Makati.

He was then recruited by his uncle, the man behind the firm C.C. Castro and Associates. He became a structural engineer and project coordinator and handled a number of projects including the former ADB headquarters on Roxas Boulevard (now Department of Foreign Affairs Building) and Continental Cement Corp. complex in Bulacan.

He studied in Pennsylvania in 1979 for his doctorate degree and there met his late wife. When he returned to Manila at 29 years old, he worked for Philippine Construction Consortium Corp. where he oversaw projects such as Palawan Power Plant and Metropolitan Hospital Building in Tondo.

He decided to establish his own company E.S. De Castro and Associates in 1982 with less than 10 people. One of ESCA’s biggest projects was SM Mall of Asia. ESCA is now considered the pioneer in using long span structures and high-strength concrete and innovative structural systems to meet project’s unique design requirements.

It has provided structural engineering services to condominiums, malls, office buildings, resorts, schools, hotels, plants, roads, tunnels, bridges and places of worship. Among its clients are SM Prime, Megaworld Corp. and Makati Development Corp.

“As CEO, I stand by him and share his dream to make his vision a reality,” says Jean, who has three siblings who live abroad.

Jean says ESCA looks forward to the next 35 years. “There is so much in store. That is why we are very excited.

We want to change the traditional ways we are doing things. We believe that with technology, we can do things better, faster and more efficient. We are looking at transparency. To this end, we will have good structures, great buildings that can help people and high-performance buildings. That is our goal. We just need to remember that technology is still a tool. It is still the people who will have to drive that technology,” she says.

“My dad is always driving technology.

My role is to keep the heart of it. I think that is the human part. We believe that it is really the Filipino engineering talent that we can promote and enhance,” says Jean, who joined ESCA as vice president in 2011 and became its CEO in 2017, “in essence to remove the headache from my dad and to allow him to pursue his advocacy.”

“His advocacy is not limited to just the company, it is for the entire industry and for Filipino engineers in general,” she says.

“I was telling my dad that if we were gonna teach competitors, we would be losing our edge at ESCA and he said we have no choice. We have to share our knowledge,” Jean says, referring to her father.

ESCA is among the first Filipino engineering design companies to adopt BIM in design and project management. The company established its BIM Department in January 2013 and ESCA Knowledge Academy in 2017 to provide BIM training to clients and industr y players. A unit, ESCA International, also pioneered engineering services outsourcing in the Philippines.

De Castro once chaired the board of civil engineering of the Professional Regulatory Commission and served as president of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers and Construction Project Management Association of the Philippines. De Castro’s feats as a structural engineer, father and visionary are included in the book ‘Fearless to be First ’ which was launched during the company’s 35th anniversary.

De Castro says the use of BIM technology is expected to make the construction industry more efficient and transparent. “Our statistics in the Philippines show that 100 percent of the projects are delayed, 100 percent of the projects are over the budget.

But we have the technology. Why are we not using the technology. And that technology is to digitize,” he says.

“When advanced countries like the UK learned about BIM, they mandated BIM. They said we are not going to pay for inefficiencies of contractors. Many countries followed and mandated BIM

YOUNG CEO MANAGES PRIVATE JETS, HELICOPTERS PhilJets Aero Services Inc. co-founder and managing director Thierry Tea

A

Cambodian of Chinese (Teochew) descent who grew up in France sold an Airbus helicopter as a trainee in the Philippines in March 2005 when he was just 23.

Thierry Tea went on to sell 16 more aircraft, became the president and chief executive of Airbus Helicopters Philippines (formerly Eurocopter) in 2007, rose to become the group head of Airbus Philippines in 2009 and oversaw the sale of 80 commercial planes worth over $8 billion and 50 helicopters worth over $300 million to Asian buyers. These aircraft included several A320s sold to Philippine Airlines.

At the peak of his career, Tea quit to pursue his passion of being an entrepreneur, having come from a business-oriented family in Cambodia. He formed a holding company in Singapore and one of its units flew high in the Philippines—PhilJets Aero Services Inc. which began operations in 2013 as a business aviation company.

“Basically when I was young, I wanted to become an entrepreneur, because my grandparents were entrepreneurs in Cambodia,”Tea, now a 36-year-old father of two, says in an interview in Makati City.

His grandparents, who were involved in flour processing and bicycle manufacturing, lost everything including their lives during the civil war. “They sent my parents to France to study, but because of the civil war in Cambodia, my parents were not able to study and had to work. My father worked as a taxi driver while my mother had to clean apartments and worked as a nanny before they became employees of an insurance company [Mutuelle Generale].”

“When I was young, I really wanted to do business, to get back the pride of the family,” says Tea. Tea borrowed money to study at Negocia business school where he joined the exchange programs in Philadelphia and Singapore. He also completed a Master’s degree at Inseec Paris. He took several jobs to save money for his internships in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

He ended up working for Airbus, first as a trainee in the Philippines. “When I got my chance at Airbus, I wanted to rise through the ranks, and be a head of subsidiary or division,” he says.

“I have been in the Philippines for 14 years this year. I arrived in 2004, initially for one year under traineeship for Airbus Helicopters. I stayed longer obviously,” says Tea, who also serves as a foreign trade advisor for France. He speaks French, English, Chinese, Spanish and Cambodian.

After working for the Airbus Group for eight years, Tea established Starline Global Industries Pte Ltd. in Singapore in 2012. Among its units are PhilJets which celebrated its fifth anniversary in January, Agama Investments and Negocia Ventures in Cambodia, which produces vanilla and exports cashew nuts from Cambodia. Starline is also into tech startups, digital media and property management in Southeast Asia.

“Basically, I decided to leave the group [Airbus] and launch my own activity. I was about to join an investment fund for Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, but eventually my clients told me to try my own. So that’s how I established Starline Global Industries in October 2012.

And then I decided to put up PhilJets in January 2013. So that is the reason we are celebrating our fifth anniversary now this year,” he says.

Tea established PhilJets as a boutique business aviation company with the aim to uplift the image of aviation and tourism in the Philippines. PhilJets operates and manages a fleet of helicopters and business jets for owners.

Tea, the co-founder and managing director of PhilJets, placed an order for a brand new H130 helicopter during the 2018 Singapore Airshow in February, after taking delivery in January of its first H145 and its seventh H130.

With these additions, PhilJets marked its entry into the twin-engine helicopter market. PhilJets will then increase its fleet to 11 helicopters and three business

for all projects. Malaysia adopted it two years ago. Last year, Vietnam was the latest country to adopt it. How about the Philippines? We have to digitize,” says De Castro.

“If we have our model for BIM, then it is easy to take everything very

jets with total value of over $90 million and plans to acquire two or three more aircraft within the year.

PhilJets flies its passengers—mostly businessmen, investors, foreign tourists and even celebrities—to popular destinations such as Tagaytay, Mount Pinatubo, Corregidor, Punta Fuego, Isabela, Balesin, Palawan and Boracay. Its business jet can fly passengers to as far as Davao City. Tea says the company also provides urban transfer from one commercial business district such as Bonifacio Global City to another part of Metro Manila to avoid road congestion.

“We wanted to establish PhilJets like NetJets in the US which has timesharing or part ownership.

Then we realized that it was very difficult for people to buy shares into the company to acquire aircraft because all the big businessmen in the Philippines have different personalities,” he says.

Tea says PhilJets is both air asset manager and operator. “We started from scratch actually.

Eventually, we managed to get our first aircraft in 2014. Then we got our second aircraft, then our license, then we got another license. We got a license to operate, then we got a license for maintenance. We are like two different companies,” he says.

“Eventually, we decided to go to aircraft management

segment as primary core business. Because we manage for owners, we help them acquire the assets at a good rate. Because we have a strong network for aircraft manufacturers, we are able to get them very good deals.

After that, we manage for them everything—from pilots, technicians, hangar maintenance, documentation, and so on,” he says.

“We lease some aircraft, we manage some aircraft. We reached basically 13 aircraft. We have 10 helicopters and three business jets. We are adding three to five more aircraft this year, depending on how fast we will get the deliveries,” he says.

“We have some Bell helicopters from the US. We have some Airbus helicopters and we have also Bombardier business jets from Canada. We have two Cessna jets from the US. And we are now in discussions with the Italians as well,” he says.

“We see our business growing. Five years ago, there was no PhilJets basically. So we were able to grow our portfolio of assets under our operations to close to $90 million of asset value. We don’t own, but manage the assets. This year, we will reach $100 million with the additional aircraft,” he says.

He says there are about 12 operators in the Philippine business aviation sector, and PhilJets is among the top three. “We are basically in the segment of business aviation. This is a segment that is quite growing popular in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. In the US, there are 10,000 helicopters and 10,000 jets,” he says. “The Philippines has only about 180 helicopters. So there is a big gap actually. The Philippines has around 50 private jets.

That’s why there is a lot of potential to grow.”

He says PhilJets helps improve the perception of investors and foreign tourists about the Philippines.

“So when investors come to the Philippines, if they have good operators, then they can move around.

Because it is easy to move, they take the jet, they take the helicopter to do business for one day or two days maximum, then they go back,” he says.

“We are both air asset manager and also enabler.

We enable some executives to do their business

efficient. If you have information from feasibility planning in the model, information for the room alignment, from surveying in the design, schedules, estimate, earthworks, construction, maintenance and operation, we can make our construction very, very

which is to make deals. We are the connectivity aspect of their business. The executives, particularly in the property development, need to go around, look at the site and need to have a view and feel of the site. Helicopter is a very good platform for that. That basically is our mission. We enable them to attend meetings, seal deals or decide more investments in some provinces,” he says.

“We were able to achieve 100 percent growth between 2015 and 2016 and another 100 percent between 2016 and 2017. For this year, we are a bit more conservative. We would try to continue to grow at least 30 percent,” he says.

“We fly a lot of high-end tourists. This is important because it creates a lot of jobs as well in the hospitality sector. We believe that when you bring 10 high net-worth foreign people, they will invest in the Philippines, like they do in Cambodia. They also help the population as they donate to Gawad Kalinga,” he says.

Aside from flying investors and tourists, PhilJets also undertook rescue and relief missions during times of calamities, according to Tea. “During Yolanda, we did a few rescue operations and we carried relief, bringing the medical goods from mainly foreign humanitarian organizations, like Doctors without Borders and German associations. We basically helped dispatch the goods to provinces,” he says.

“We are now in discussion with the government for disaster relief department,” says Tea. “In our first two years, 80 percent of our clients were foreigners because when we started a lot of Filipinos did not trust us because we were too new or too small. Now it is the opposite, 80 percent are Filipinos and 20 percent foreigners,” he says.

PhilJets now has 60 employees, excluding a batch of apprentice for maintenance training program. “When we get more aircraft, we will add employees. We want to open bases in Cebu and Davao, so we will add some people,” he says. “ Since we started, we had more than 200 people who have been working with us. A lot of them are working overseas now, or they found jobs in other companies in the Philippines as well. They became engineers, head mechanics or pilots. They earn much more than just being cleaners of aircraft.”

“Our main pillar of contribution is to create highskilled jobs like engineers, technicians and pilots who come with us for training. We spend a lot in trainings.

We send our key personnel to be trained in the US, Singapore, Europe, France. They get certificates and exposure. And then some of them stay with us. We have some people who have been with us for three, four or five years. Some of them get their license, they go to the Middle East like Dubai, Abu Dhabi. We now have some Filipino engineers who are expats in Cambodia or Myanmar. This is life changing, basically a career path for them. We want to do more in that aspect,” he says.

Tea says PhilJets’ advocacy is to improve the image of the Philippine aviation regionally and internationally. “That is one of our missions. We believe that in the last five years, we managed to put the Philippines on the map of business aviation.

More people in the US and Asia know about PhilJets, so they know about the Philippines,” he says.

“The other direction is we want is to expose Philippine destinations such as Boracay and Palawan as well as other places to high-spending tourists worldwide. Before they were kind of scared to fly to the Philippines. We believe we managed to also contribute in that area. We have some people who have bought islands in the Philippines and develop the islands and they are bringing their friends to the Philippines. And this is very encouraging,” he says.

“We are happy of our achievement in the last five years. For the next five years, we want to be stronger nationwide. We want to grow bases in Davao and Cebu. We want to develop ourselves in education. We want to strengthen and grow more into air logistics as well. Basically, we want to reach 30 aircraft, including 20 helicopters and 10 business jets. That is our objective. We believe we will be able to achieve that within the next five years. If we achieve that, we will be the largest business aviation operator in the Philippines. This is our aim,” he says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

efficient. When we say efficient, it means that the project has been delivered on time, at cost and in accordance to the performance requirements by which we have designed it for,” he says.

ESCA looks at BIM technology as the source of its expansion. “We can digitize

our environment. When we digitize our environment, that is the start of making our environment, our cities smart. If we have enough people in the Philippines [with BIM skills], probably we can have a smart Philippines,” says de Castro.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

Tech & Gadgets

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION AT DENR OFFICE M

ITSUBISHI Motors Corporation, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation, and the Manila Electric Company unveiled its electric vehicle quick charging station at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Central Office in Quezon City held last Feb. 15.

The charging station was donated by MMPC in fulfillment of its role in the reduction of environmental pollutions following a grant of 10 EV units from MMC from its Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Outlander PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) lines.

The i-MiEV is Mitsubishi’s five-door hatchback electric car, while the Outlander PHEV is the world’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle mid-size SUV. “We are already working with the DENR to conduct a study on how to reduce carbon emissions through the use of electric vehicles. The creation of a charging infrastructure is a crucial step in enabling the market growth of electric vehicles in the Philippines,” said MMPC President and CEO Mutsuhiro Oshikiri.

Other EV charging stations lined up for installation at the DENR offices in Cebu and Davao, as well as the DTI office in Makati City, have also been donated by MMPC. The car manufacturer has been at the forefront of EV development and was the first to bring in a pure electric car in the country. MMPC’s engagement with the DENR and DTI is just one of EV proliferations activities with various other Philippine government agencies and the private sector, including Meralco, in recent months.

“Our partnership with the Philippine government provides a clear demonstration of how we at MMC and MMPC are working together with policy makers to encourage the adoption of cleaner fuels and to reduce CO2 emissions,” Oshikiri added.

Recognizing Meralco’s prominence in the

Among the executives who attended the inauguration were (from left) Meralco SVP and Head of Customer Retail Services and Corporate Communications Alfredo S. Panlilio, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation General Manager for Philippine Business Department Minoru Kinoshita, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation President and CEO Mutsuhiro Oshikiri, DTI Assistant Secretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba, and DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas R. Leones.

power space, MMPC commissioned Meralco’s subsidiary, MSERV, to construct the EV charging stations equipped with CHAdeMO quick charging technology.

The contraction comes from the Japanese phrase O cha demo ikagadesuka, which translates to “How about a cup of tea?”, in reference to the time it would take to charge the car.

“Meralco prides itself for being the country’s premiere energy trailblazer, so we are quite honored that Mitsubishi Motors has chosen us to be their partner of choice in providing power innovations at the DENR and DTI,” said Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Customer Retail Services and Corporate Communications Alfredo S. Panlilio.

A proponent of energy innovation, efficient use

of power resources, and sustainable green technologies, Meralco has been pushing for wider use of EVs in the country in response to ecological and economic demands.

The partnership between Meralco, MMC, and MMPC is clear validation of the companies’ continued leadership in expanding use of electric vehicles in the country and their attention to environmental advocacy.

Minoru Kinoshita, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation General Manager for Philippine Business Department; Atty. Jonas R. Leones, DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs; and Ceferino S. Rodolfo, DTI Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Group were also present at the unveiling event.

IMMERSIVE ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE WITH SONY DUO GREAT entertainment comes from only the best immersive audio sets that are powered to make consumers feel connected with the images being flashed on the screen and the sounds that go with it.

Sony, the best provider of quality home entertainment, boasts of the power pair of sound bars which are designed to give consumers the finest combination of devices to fit exactly these unique entertainment needs.

HT-ST5000 Brings A New Dimension to Sound Planning the perfect family movie night soon? Perhaps, a chill evening with friends for that relaxing series marathon and food trip you’ve always wanted? All these and more, the HT-ST5000 can deliver for your home entertainment needs because the distinct functions and features of the sound bar provides superior sound quality in a sleek, stylish package.

As Sony’s flagship 7.1.2ch 800W sound bar, the HT-

Give your family the best entertainment experience with Sony’s exciting sound bar line-up under the Compact Bar Series

ST5000 features the Dolby Atmos®, 3D Sound Experience, Hi-Resolution Audio and 10 advanced speakers—all in a sleek, stylish design. Each speaker unit utilizes separate drivers to reproduce a full range of sound that supports High-Resolution Audio playback. While a powerful addition to a television or projector all on its own, this sound bar is designed to be the

cornerstone of a home theatre setup. With three HDMI inputs, one HDMI ARC output, a USB input, Bluetooth, NFC, as well as digital optical and analog connections, there’s a connection for all your equipment.

The HT-ST5000 maintains quality from source to screen with support for 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) content from major studios via HDMI HDCP

2.2, and also supports multi-room capability. With these excellent sound quality offers in a stylish pact, you now have the power to provide the best entertainment in your own home.

HT-MT500 Delivers Sound Like No Other Another sound bar under the first Sony Compact Bar series, the HT-MT500 ensures the reproduction of great sound with the use of S-Force PRO Front Surround technology, placing the listener right in the heart of the movies by emulating theatrestyle surround sound from two front speakers only. Ideal not just for your late night move sessions, but also for house parties that are all about the music.

In addition, the unit includes a slim separate subwoofer that can stand neatly upright next to or in between your furniture to deliver clear, defined bass. The subwoofers of the HT-MT500 can even be placed discreetly under the sofa without having to compromise on sound quality through the cushions, when

using the new Sofa Mode.

The unit is also undoubtedly stylish as it keeps up with current trends in living room design, whilst providing a pure and natural, high quality sound experience. But of course, Sony is never just about the look. The High-Resolution Audio-enabled HT-MT500 and HT-ST5000 units can even upscale and enhance all the sounds that it plays out.

Furthermore, it supports Wireless Surround Sound and one HDMI ARC output. It comes with Chromecast Built-in™ And Spotify Connect so you have access to over 100 music-streaming apps.

For extra simplicity, it also has a Music Service button to carry on listening to the last song you played from your Spotify account.

The HT-ST5000 and HTMT500 sound bars are available in Sony Centres and authorized dealers nationwide.

For more information, visit www.sony.com.ph, like facebook.com/SonyPhilippines, or follow twitter.com/SonyPHinc and Instagram.com/sonyPHInc.

3-DAY XPANDER XPO AT WORLD TRADE CENTER MITSUBISHI Motors Philippines Corp. is pleased to invite everyone to a public expo and test drive event as it officially launches the much anticipated all-new Mitsubishi XPANDER. Dubbed as the XPANDER XPO, this exclusive Mitsubishi motor show and test drive event will open on March 2 (Friday) until March 4 (Sunday), from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Admission is free A showcase of the all-new Mitsubishi XPANDER line-up and an array of Mitsubishi’s current best-selling models will be on display during this 3-day expo. Expo visitors will also be able to view the world’s first plug-in hybrid SUV the Outlander PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle). Aside from the various vehicles on display, there are a lot more interesting activities for the whole family. Most importantly, there will be a test drive activity to give customers the opportunity to personally experience the XPANDER and other Mitsubishi bestselling models.

The XPANDER XPO is one great event that you shouldn’t miss, most especially if you are on the lookout for a brand new vehicle, be it for you or your family. MMPC will be giving everyone the opportunity to experience first-hand and test drive the all-new XPANDER to prove to yourself why

the XPANDER is the perfect choice for you.

A special test drive course is laid-out to showcase the performance and best in class features of the XPANDER. To convince you much further, a Head to Head test drive where customers can try other competitive brands to fully compare the XPANDER will also be available. This will let you see for yourself why this all-new model has gained so much popularity in the Indonesian market and why the XPANDER should definitely be your choice. Other available models for test drive are the Montero Sport, Strada, Pajero and Mirage. Test drive of vehicles is from 10AM to 6PM only.

Aside from a feast of great vehicles on display and test drive activities, MMPC will make sure that your visit to the XPANDER XPO will be exceptionally worthwhile and enjoyable with the array of other fun activities lined up for the whole family. Even kids will enjoy this event as it will host a kids play area with special attractions and activities, including a free drift box experience. And as an added attraction to kids, MMPC invited some friends from Nickelodeon—SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick—to say hello and play with the kids on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4. Live performances from the country’s most popular bands Parokya ni Edgar on March 2 and Sponge Cola on

March 4 will also entertain expo goers. To make this event even more memorable, Montero Sport brand ambassador, Megan Young, will be dropping by to host some fun games for the whole family. A lot more exciting activities and exclusive offers are in-store for all the visitors of this 3-day event. Be sure to mark your calendar and don’t miss-out the XPANDER Xpo for

a truly worthwhile motor show and test drive experience! This is your chance to see up-close and experience the all-new XPANDER. For your convenience, expo goers are recommended to register online before March 1 at xpander.mmpc.ph and save the customer ID which will be presented upon entry to the venue.

B3

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

PLDT INTERNET SPEEDS UP AS PLDT HASTENS FIBER ROLL-OUT FIXED broadband internet speeds in the country have improved markedly as Philippine telecom operators led by PLDT Inc. step up deployment of fiberpowered facilities.

In its latest Speedtest Global Index report, Ookla, a leading global Internet testing and analysis firm, said that the country’s download speeds increased 50 percent from 10.16 Mbps to 15.67 Mbps, while upload speeds jumped from 7.28 Mbps to 13.53 Mbps.

“These results reflect the growing impact of our ongoing efforts to provide fiber-powered broadband services to more customers in more areas of the country,” said Oscar A. Reyes, Jr., PLDT SVP and Head of Consumer Business Market Development.

As of end-2017, the coverage of PLDT’s industry-leading Fiber-to-theHome (FTTH) network had reached four million homes passed as of end2017. With the ongoing network modernization and upgrade plans in the pipeline, PLDT expects to reach more homes and businesses across the country as it expands fixed broadband coverage by about 30 per cent to 5.1 million homes passed.

In terms of capacity, PLDT will double its fiber and hybrid fiber broadband capacity from 1.1 million ports as of end 2017 to over 2.2 million ports within the next two years.

Aside from deploying more fiber-tothe-home (FTTH) facilities, PLDT is also upgrading its copper-based broadband service to the much faster hybrid fiber connections. By 2019, virtually all of PLDT’s 1.3 million copper-based DSL subscribers will enjoy Fibr-fast internet.

Reyes said the steady rise in the country’s fixed broadband speeds can be attributed to the company’s response to the growing demand for digital services from Filipinos who increasingly rely on the internet for information, entertainment, security and, of course, communication.

“The internet is a basic necessity for most Filipino families. The robust growth of our subscriber base reflects Filipinos’ voracious appetite for more than just high-speed connections. Filipinos want digital services and content that add value and complement their diverse lifestyles,” Reyes said.

In the first half of 2017, PLDT’s home broadband subscriber base increased 10 per cent to 3.88 million users, while revenue went up by 12 per cent from P15.8 billion during the same period.

Revenue growth from its Home Segment was driven by data services, which grew 15 per cent to P9.7 billion in the first semester of the previous year.

Reyes added that PLDT’s dominance in home broadband and residential digital services is a product of the telco giant’s early shift to digital technology which began with the introduction of DSL. “Ookla’s latest report reinforces our gains and successes in bringing high-speed internet to more Filipinos nationwide,” Reyes concluded. “In the past year, we’ve strengthened our leadership in the fixed broadband business and we look forward to building on this momentum as we continue to invest in network infrastructure that will benefit more Filipino homes.”

PLDT Chairman and CEO Manny V. Pangilinan had previously noted that the “massive effort” to improve and expand PLDT’s network and the “historically high CAPEX levels” reiterate the telco leader’s commitment to “deliver better coverage and quality products and services to our customers.”

The accelerated FTTH roll-out has enabled more customers to access PLDT Home’s industry-leading products and services, particularly its SmartHome suite of cutting-edge security devices—the home monitoring system Fam Cam, the cyber security platform Fam Zone and the multi-functional kiddie gadget Smart Watch. On the entertainment end, PLDT Home offers its flagship entertainment platform, the Roku-Powered™ TVolution—an all-in-one box which houses content from top providers like Cignal, Netflix, iflix and Youtube.

PLDT Home also introduced the Philippines’ first and only Whole Home WiFi solution, a product-andservice package that connects the entire home to a strong all-in-one broadband and smart WiFi network.

The PLDT group has invested over P300 billion or approximately $6 billion over the last 10 years in building its integrated fixed and wireless network, which includes the country’s most extensive fiber transmission and distribution infrastructure which now has over 170,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables that support the growing data traffic of its fixed line and mobile networks.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

TECH & Gadgets

INFINIX HOT S3 OFFERS NICE SELFIES, GREAT BATTERY UP Fair Roots 2018

T

HE name initially may draw a naughty laugh. I mean, why would you name a product as “Hot,” when it’s neither something to eat or drink, nor a stunning babe of your dreams.

But that’s the name all right of this new Infinix phone model, Hot S3, which judging from its specs, should be selling like hotcakes when it becomes available locally on Wednesday (Feb. 28).

Last Feb. 21, 2018, Infinix Mobile officially launched locally its newest selfie-centric 18:9 aspect ratio display smartphone—the Infinix Hot S3 and judging from its specs, it’s not something to laugh at.

Infinix is slowly making a name for itself with its Note, which boasts of larger screens, and its Zero series, which are its premium, flagship models.

The Hot S3 is the latest in Infinix’s Hot S series, aimed at the younger generation.

Although the body is made of plastic and is prone to fingerprints and smudges, the good design will make you forgive Infinix for it, together with the phone case that goes with it for free. Other plusses are the fast fingerprint scanner, the dual SIM with dedicated microSD slot, the latest Android Oreo, high quality display with good contrast/colors and yes, the great selfies that can be made.

At its price range, the Infinix Hot S3 packs a nice 20 MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 Aperture and LED flash. At the back, the 13 MP main camera has the same f/2.0 aperture, with dual LED flash.

The high camera specs will give

you nice selfies, even in conditions where there’s little light. Other brands that put their selfies at the forefront of their marketing strategies should watch out for this newcomer.

The internal specs are also not something to sneeze at, banking on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 1.4 GHz Octa Core Cortex-A53 supported by an Adreno 505 GPU. It also has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of ROM (expandable up to 128 GB).

Gaming, surfing, video playback, calls and camera use are decent.

And did we mention its awesome battery, which lasts for nearly two days of light use? This alone is worth the price of the phone.

The Infinix Hot S3 is the first mobile phone of Infinix that has been released this year, the first one to have Snapdragon as the chipset and first built with the newest standard size of 18:9 ratio.

This is the full specifications of Hot S3: 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Adreno 505 3GB RAM 32GB internal memory expandable via microSD up to 128GB 5.65-inch HD+ IPS LCD display (1440 x 720 pixels) 13 megapixel rear facing camera with autofocus and LED flash 20 megapixel front facing camera

OPPO CELEBRATES OPM WEEK AT UP FAIR

Infinix Hot S3 will be available on Shopee starting Wednesday (Feb. 28). It will also be on flash sale starting 0:00- 11:59 a.m. with the price of only P5,999.

with LED flash Dual SIM, Dual Standby 4 G / LT E , W i F i , B l u e t o o t h , Fingerprint Scanner GPS, A-GPS 4,000 mAh battery Android 8.0 Oreo with XOS 3 Infinix Hot S3 will be available on

Shopee starting Wednesday (Feb. 28).

It will also be on flash sale starting 0:00- 11:59 a.m. with the price of only P5,999. It’s limited stocks only.

Infinix ’ latest phone comes equipped with a 20MP front camera and an affordable regular price of P7,999.

SMART BOOSTS COMMUNITY WARNING SYSTEM

A Sigaw unit installed in San Luis, Batangas

PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications is working with Batangas State University to enhance tsunami warning systems of seaside communities.

Smart is integrating its Emergency Cell Broadcast System into the Solar Isotropic Generator of Acoustic Wave platform to enable faster and wider dissemination of hazard alerts within communities.

Funded by the World Food Programme, Sigaw was created by BatStateU, in partnership with the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), to help warn residents in coastal barangays (villages) of possible tsunami.

Sigaw, which also means “shout” in Tagalog, consists of a 10-foot-tall device, a control unit with a SIM (subscriber identity module) and a siren, and a solar panel. It can send out text broadcasts and issue a siren

alert when its sensors detect tsunami activity relayed by Phivolcs.

ECBS is a collaboration by Smart, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and the National Telecommunications Commission. It was launched in March last year, and has since been used to disseminate quick emergency alerts during typhoons and post-earthquake situations. Most recently, ECBS alerts have been sent to Albay residents following the ongoing eruption of the Mayon Volcano, which started last month.

ECBS is considered more effective in disseminating emergency alerts because it operates on a channel separate from that used by calls and text messages or SMS (short message service). Smart’s investment on ECBS is landmark compliance to Republic Act No. 10639 or the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, which mandates telecommunications service providers to send free mobile alerts in the event of natural and

man-made disasters and calamities.

Seventeen Sigaw units have been installed in 13 Batangas municipalities, according to Albertson D. Amante, BatStateU vice president for research, development, and extension services.

The plan, he added, was to deploy more units not only in Batangas but also in other provinces.

“Integrating Sigaw with Smart ECBS will improve the system and allow us to reach more people in communities better,” said Amante.

BatStateU has been one of Smart’s school partners in the company’s technology-for-development initiatives. It has been an active participant in Smart’s youth programs such as SWEEP, or Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program, which aims to produce industry-ready graduates or technopreneurs; and TNT Tropang Ready, which empowers the youth to become disaster preparedness mobilizers in their communities.

NPC CALLS FOR DATA PRIVACY COMPLIANCE IN FINANCE SECTOR THE consumer finance services are seeing a steady growth in demand particularly from the small-to-medium scale enterprises in the Philippines, owing to robust business climate and increasing consumer spending.

Thus, there is a need for businesses involved in personal, and credit loan services to safeguard their customers’ trust by ensuring that personal information remains secure against data theft.

At the 15th Data Protection Officers Assembly, Privacy Commissioner and NPC Chairman Raymund Liboro encouraged consumer finance service providers to comply with the provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, emphasizing on the need to mitigate risks as this sector becomes increasingly dependent on advances in technology.

The definitive outcome of compliance is ensuring the consumer finance sector’s stability, global competitiveness and continued contribution to national

economic progress.

“Data privacy compliance is a must for all organizations that collect and process personal data.

Determining your responsibility in protecting such data—from acquisition, storage, and transfer—not only helps your clients have that sense of security but also strengthens your brand as a company that puts their customers above all else,” Liboro said.

The NPC has convened the Data Protection Officers (DPOs) of the consumer finance sector last Feb. 20, 2018 at the PICC with the theme“Data Privacy: Safeguarding trust in consumer finance”, to encourage compliance awareness, accountability and a sense of urgency within the sector.

Highlighting DPO15 is the declaration of a partnership between the NPC and key leaders in the consumer finance industry. This includes global finance technology (fintech) company Home Credit Philippines (HCPH), represented by its president and CEO Annica

Act, is a must to protect consumers and retain their trust. We are one with the NPC in raising awareness for this law, and we hope that more companies take part in this initiative.”

The NPC has been actively promoting compliance to have government and private firms in the Philippines register their data processing systems with the Comission before the March 8 deadline as part of the requirements of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, under section 45 of the implementing rules and regulations.

A study by SocialWeather Stations (SWS) commissioned by the NPC in About a hundred Data Protection Officers and their representatives 2017 showed that 94% of Filipinos joined the NPC’s DPO15 Assembly for the consumer finance sector want to know how businesses would at the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila. use their personal information.

“It’s paramount to install security Witschard, and the Philippine Fi- we are in to provide people with nance Association led by its presi- the financial tools that they need,” protocols to ensure that data isn’t dent Gerry Verzola. Their support remarked Ms. Witschard. “And this stolen or illegally shared. This is one conveys the sector’s commitment means we have a responsibility to key aspect of protecting the integrity in building a resilient data privacy our customers and to the public of your business. Everyone, especially to keep this data safe and secure. businesses, has a responsibility culture in the Philippines.

“As a fintech company, the more Responsible use of data, one that is to protect personal information,” data we have, the better position fully compliant with the Data Privacy Commissioner Liboro said.

OPPO Philippines, in partnership with UP Economics Society and UP Underground Music Community, celebrated a music-filled weekend for another installment of the much-awaited UP Fair.

With numerous exciting rides, countless food stalls, and engaging games and activities, the celebration was definitely one for the books!

With more than 14,000 attendees at the final night of the highly-anticipated week-long fair, students got to experience the fun-filled festivities OPPO has prepared – from shooting like a pro at the Hoops Booth to getting instant freebies. What even made it more exciting are the brand new OPPO F5 Red smartphones that were given away to the students to help them capture real moments that are worth sharing.

To top it all off, they were able to witness live musical performances from the country’s all-time favorite bands such as Urbandub, IV of Spades, Sandwich, Imago, Autotelic, Orange and Lemons, Pedicab, Ben & Ben, and a lot more.

“The UP Fair has always been known to bring in joy and excitement to a lot of students by giving them a chance to fully enjoy the prime of their youth and the opportunity to celebrate music with a cause. We wanted to be a part of this initiative because OPPO believes that every moment in our lives deserves to be captured and treasured especially for the youth,” said Eason De Guzman, OPPO Philippines’ PR Manager.

OPPO Philippines, a brand wellreceived by the youth, will be more involved in activities supporting the culture and well-being of the Filipino culture. Expect more from OPPO this 2018 with more engaging events and life-centric innovations.

For more information, customers may visit https://www.oppo.com/ph/. They can also follow OPPO on Facebook via https:// www.facebook.com/OPPOPH/ for the store list and latest updates.

Motorola Kiosk

MOTOROLA EXPANDS IN VISMIN SINCE its launch in 2016, Motorola Philippines has gone full throttle in making the Motorola experience more accessible to Filipinos nationwide. To support this vision, Motorola is further strengthening its presence in Visayas and Mindanao with new retail kiosks in Cebu and Davao.

Strategically located in the Cyberzone area of SM City Cebu and in Gaisano Mall Davao, the newly opened Motorola experience kiosks bring the Motorola innovative technology closer to consumers.

The new retail stores also kick-start Motorola’s expansion plans for 2018 aimed at showcasing its smartphone offerings catering to the different Filipino markets and the trademark lineup of modular accessories better known as the Moto Mods.

“We want to continually address the smartphone needs of Filipino consumers.

Our expansion initiatives for 2018 focus on reaching more Filipinos, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao areas. Apart from our 10 Motorola experience stores, we are keen on amplifying our efforts to make the Motorola experience available to everyone as we become more visible in the market,” shared Vincent dela Cruz, Marketing Manager of Lenovo Mobile Business Group Philippines.

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Young Life sunday, february 25, 2018

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor

manilastandardlife@gmail.com

@manilastandardlife

@MStandardLIFE

A new HeAdquArters for pop culture geeks BeInG a collector in the Philippines comes with many challenges, primarily acquiring official and limited edition collectibles. collectors often resort to purchasing online or asking friends abroad to get the item they want because, often, they are not available here at home.

tHe one tHing

JericHo rosAles

seAsoned TrAveLer. avid adventurer Jericho rosales has one particular travel must-have that he never leaves home without.

AlwAys brings to His trips

By Bernadette Lunas

J

erIcho rosaLes never says no to an adventure— when his schedule permits—or as he puts it, “Basta pwede, go na kaagad. Kumbaga, gora na ‘te!”

Much like any seasoned wanderer, the 38-year-old actor and musician has his travel essentials within arms reach. But there is one thing that he never leaves home without; if you think it is his camera, being his wife, Kim Jones’s, personal photographer, or his phone, to stay connected with everyone, you are gravely mistaken.

“I have a kikay kit,” divulged rosales.

Yes, the boots-wearing, motorbike-riding, and adventure-seeking actor ensures that he has grooming tools, perfume, hair products, and wet wipes in his grooming kit. rosales also admits that although he moves a lot, he moves “really slow,” to which he said his wife and closest friends can attest.

“That’s why,” he said, “I minimize my stuff that I have at home. I just have my denims, white shirts, and jackets.” and because his grooming kit is a travel must-have, rosales said he already has five kits ready, like a “go bag.”

Avid adventurer

same as rosales, arci Muñoz never passes up the chance to go on an adventure.

The Philia vocalist shared that she is currently busy working on an upcoming rom-com series with Piolo Pascual. and even though the shoot for their new project will take them to Paris in France, coinciding with her trip to Japan, Muñoz said she won›t cancel her trip.

“I said 'okay lang.’ Go na rin, tatawid lang naman,” she said candidly.

While rosales ensures he has his grooming kit, denims, and cotton shirts in his trav-

el bag, Muñoz›s luggage, she said, is filled with clothes she carefully chose with the help of her stylist for #ooTD purposes. “since magpapa-picture ka sa magandang view, dapat maganda rin yung suot mo,” she advised. one of the clothing pieces Muñoz packs is a pair of Wrangler›s Infinicool jeans. The breathable and moisture-absorbing pants keep her cool and comfortable especially when she›s in a tropical destination or engaging in an extreme activity.

Luckily, securing official and limited edition collectibles is now easier and more convenient for Filipino pop culture fans with the launch of a new specialty store that provides a one-stop source of authentic geek merchandise in the country. headquarters or hQ is a concept store that promises authentic finds for authentic fans. Its goal is to curate officially licensed merchandise from different parts of the world and make them more accessible to Filipino fans.

arci Muñoz carefully selects the outfits she packs whenever she travels.

headquarters carries rare collectibles from Japanese toy manufacturers

“one hurdle that pop culture fans typically face is the difficulty of acquiring limited edition items, especially since most of these are sold overseas,” observed headquarters president Melvin Lloyd Lim. hQ aims to be the go-to store for rare and unique finds that appeal to a wide range of interests, may it be comic books, movies, anime, video games, music, or other areas of pop culture.

True wanderer

rosales and Muñoz team up to search for the Wrangler True Wanderer this 2018.

For the fourth year of the nationwide search, rosales directed the campaign’s promotional video. Muñoz joins him as Wrangler›s first female brand ambassador.

Wrangler encourages those interested to join to upload a travel photo—set in public—on their Facebook or Instagram accounts with the hashtags #TrueWandererPH, #Live2Wander, and #WranglerPH, and tag @WranglerPH. They may also upload them directly on www.wrangler-ap.com/ph/truewanderer. entries will be accepted until april 12. chosen finalists will go on to explore different parts of the country and experience for themselves the unique culture, food, and way of life of these destinations. stories of their three-day trip will be uploaded online for the public to vote.

The winner will receive P500,000 worth of prizes, inclusive of a three-day, two-night all-expense-paid trip for four to any Philippine destination, Wrangler gear, drone camera, and a tablet.

The concept store also offers limited edition apparel

NadiNe Lustre to LauNch a makeup LiNe Fans of nadine Lustre are eagerly awaiting for the 24-year-old actor’s makeup line.

Lustre is collaborating with australian cosmetics brand BYs (Be Yourself) for her line Lustrous, to be launched in april.

The makeup line was announced on Feb. 14 on Instagram and Twitter. The post on IG account @lustrousph, which said “a shimmer of beauty is appearing soon,” has garnered more than 4,000 likes as of this writing.

The account, meanwhile, currently has nearly 14,000 followers. nadine Lustre is launching her exclusive makeup line Lustrous in april

Major prizes for hQ's raffle promo

Lustrous by nadine x BYs is now accepting preorders, although the makeup products are yet to be announced. according to a tweet from user @TeamTenementUno, each limited edition Lustrous Box Makeup Kit contains a lip and cheek tint, a bronzer and highlighter palette, an eyebrow gel, an eyeshadow palette, and a waterproof mascara.

The 2,999-peso box set also comes with free fivepiece unicorn brush set, a limited edition gift box with mirror, and a signed letter from nadine Lustre.

Kiana Valenciano, Lustre’s friend and a BYs endorser, urged everyone to “start saving money.”

Valenciano said in a tweet, “I’ve seen the products, I’ve held the products. start saving your monneeeeyyyy. You’re gonna want everythaaaang.”

“With headquarters (hQ), we want to bridge the gap between enthusiasts and merchandise that are relevant to their interests, by making these items more accessible to them,” said Lim. hQ recently opened its first store in the country at Uptown Turn to C2

Ultraman, astro Boy, and Black Jack on hQ's shelves

young Life

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sunday, FEBruary 25, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

a new...

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Mall in Taguig City. The store offers limited edition toys, apparel, gadgets, novelty items, and a number of media titles for TV, film, music, and video game aficionados, among others.

“Fans of different interests and age groups will definitely find something for them at headquarters (hQ). We will carry official merchandise from international names, as well as rare collectibles from Japanese toy manufacturers. Our opening mix includes merchandise from ultraman, daimos, Mazinger Z, Lupin the Third, and Tezuka Productions such as astro Boy and Black Jack,” said Lim. he added, “We will be introducing more series merchandise from time to time, so there will always be something new for fans to look forward to.”

In celebration of the opening of the store, hQ is holding the heroes Blast Off Giveaway raffle Promo wherein a single receipt purchase of items worth P1,500 entitles a customer to one raffle entry, giving them a chance to take home high-end collectible toys and officially licensed shirts. The promo is ongoing until april 9.

For more information on the concept store and the raffle promo, go to HQ Store PH on Facebook or @hqstoreph on Instagram.

thrilling ride at resorts World Manila More resorts World Manila members will have a chance to win a slice of the over P10 million in prizes at the Thrill My ride promo raffle draws on March 2 and 3 at Bar 360.

Ten winners will be picked every raffle draw, whose thrilling prizes include a brand new customized Ford ranger Wildtrak. The Ford ranger 3.2L Wildtrak is a premium 4x4 pickup truck with exceptional off-road capability. It has spacious interiors, a sleek exterior design, and a six-speed automatic transmission that powers its 3.2 liter, five-cylinder, 20-valve diesel engine.

Mystery Game prizes, meanwhile, range from P50,000 to P500,000. rWM members must simply earn 20 points to gain one raffle entry until March 3. Members may earn a maximum of 50 vouchers per day with no point deduction.

For more information, visit www.rwmanila.com or call (02) 908-8833.

The beloved My Little Pony characters—apple Jack, Twilight sparkle, Pinkie Pie, rainbow dash, rarity and Fluttershy—dancing and prancing during the first My Little Pony Friendship run in the country.

‘LittLe ponies’

C

run at sM by the bay

uTE and colorful ponies were seen running with hundreds of kids and their families at the first ever My Little Pony Friendship run Manila held at sM by the Bay. The event, which was inspired by My Little Pony: The Movie, was a partnership between Toy Kingdom and Global Procurement, Inc. The movie, which was based on the famous 2010 television series “Friendship is Magic” sends Twilight sparkle, applejack, rainbow dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and rarity into an epic adventure to save the Ponyville world. along the journey, the ponies travel outside Equestria, make new friends, and conquer exciting challenges to defeat the evil forces of the storm King.

Just like in the movie, the ponies along with the participants also conquered an exciting fun run experience. They made friends as they unleashed their running skills and finished the five-kilometer, three-kilometer, one-kilometer, and 500-meter runs.

rhinoa Louisse and Zidane Prescila strike a pose in their Twilight sparkle getup

adorable My Little Pony fans in vibrant rainbow dash costume (left) and rarity’s look (right)

race finishers brought home My Little Pony toys and merchandise, while lucky raffle winners also won exciting prices such as LEd screen TV and My Little Pony-inspired plushies. along with the fun running experience, kids also had the chance to meet and take photos with their favorite ponies like Twilight sparkle, applejack, rainbow dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and rarity during the race.

My Little Pony toys are available at all Toy Kingdom Express outlets in The SM Store and Toy Kingdom stores in most SM Supermalls.

Ford ranger Wildtrak

Books, Beats, and Booze at Before Midnight ThErE’s a new monthly gathering where music, arts, and literature lovers can chat and connect.

Opening on Feb. 28 at Kwago Book Bar in Warehouse Eight, Before Midnight features a concert, free zines and discounted books, and fictioninspired cocktails.

Before Midnight’s first outing features the third run of “Echoes,” a stripped down concert where musicians are featured as storytellers and allowed to experiment and show a different side of them sans special effects.

The lineup include nights of rizal, ruru, and asch.

Kwago Book Bar will offer its titles at discounted prices during Before Midnight on Feb. 28

“What makes ‘Echoes’ different is that it’s very personal. It’s a no-frills type of gig,” said Warehouse Eight cofounder Kayla dionisio. “you get to be really close to the musicians, see them in a different light. you see musicians as people rather than performers.”

Purveyr will document the gig and make it available online even after the event, much like how nPr Tiny desk Concert does it. design startup diyalogo will launch witty, limited edition interactive cards exclusive for the event to develop rapport among the guests, while Bad student will produce a risographed zine for everyone to peruse during the gathering. all books at Kwago will be offered at 10 percent off.

Food and beer will be served by seventeen O’ nine and Philippine Craft Kings. In addition, Kwago’s fiction-inspired menu will also be available, featuring cocktails inspired by local and international literature, such as “dark hours” by Conchitina Cruz, “howl” by allen Ginsberg, and “Para Kay B” by ricky Lee.

Before Midnight will feature the third run of Echoes, a stripped down concert.

“We’ve designed ‘Before Midnight’ in such a way that it will allow organic and genuine connections among people who love books, beats, and booze.

What we’re missing now in gatherings are conversations that deeply affect and influence us,” shared Kwago

founder Czyka Tumaliuan. “We’re hoping to have more of those.”

The P500 door fee comes with a free zine, coffee or beer, snacks, and 10 percent off on all books at Kwago.

Go to www.warehouse-eight.com for more details.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

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Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

Paolo Contis

Rodjun Cruz

PAOLO, RODJUN TEACH VIEWERS THE VALUE OF RECONCILIATION

‘TANGHALAN’ FINALIST WINS SINGING TILT IN

LONDON

"Tawag ng Tanghalan"'s pride Rachel Gabreza was named champion at the Stars of Albion Grand Prix 2018: 5th International Performing Arts Festival and Competition held in London.

“T

awag ng Tanghalan” singer Rachel Gabreza took her talent to the global stage after she was hailed the champion at the Stars of the Albion Grand Prix 2018: 5th International Performing Arts Festival & Competition held in London, United Kingdom on Feb. 19.

Rachel, a member of the Organisasyon ng mga Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM), dominated the competition’s professional category and beat 30 contenders from countries such as Russia, Great Britain, Malta, America, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, India, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, and Ghana.

Stars of the Albion is an international performing arts festival and competition, annually organized by Musica Nova International Academy of Music in UK and World Association of Performing Arts, which brings together extraordinary talented musicians and dancers from across the world.

Rachel got through the first level of the Grand Prix for her performance of “Go the Distance,” the song that proclaimed her a daily winner in “Tawag ng Tanghalan” in 2016.

She ultimately commanded the second level of the Grand Prix by belting out Jennifer Hudson’s “I Am Changing.” It is also the song that she performed to unseat the defending champion in “Tawag ng Tanghalan” that got her a score of 99 percent and sent the judges raving, including Rey Valera, who had fallen off his seat after clapping too much.

Rachel is the second Kapamilya singer this year to have represented the country and showcased Filipino talent on a global stage after KZ Tandingan, who is currently competing as a regular contender on China’s top-rating show, Singer 2018.

Sophia Senoron,18, is a champion debater from Bulacan. She is representing the Philippines at the Multinational pageant tomorrow.

VIEWERS will surely be glued to their TV screens as GMA Network’s inspirational anthology program Stories of the Soul presents a story about reconciliation today.

Headlining the story entitled ‘Rehas’ are Kapuso actors Paolo Contis and Rodjun Cruz.

Paolo is the strict Captain Nilo Corpuz, the new warden in a provincial jail, who vows to clean up drugs and other unlawful activities inside the prison. He then meets Rex, played by Rodjun, a reformed inmate who heads a Christian fellowship inside the correctional facility.

Upon meeting each other, Nilo prohibits Rex from conducting bible studies and other religious activities because of his dark past.

How will Rex be able to take away the bitterness inside Nilo’s heart? Will Nilo have a change of heart?

Find out what happens in Stories for the Soul today after Dear Uge on GMA.

ROMANTIC ANTHEMS OF LANCE EDWARD AFTER teasing netizens with his half-naked photos as a car wash boy, Lance Edward now surprises the Internet with his romantic anthems. These songs are guaranteed to “touch” the collective hearts of all this season of love and beyond.“Kung Ako Na Lang Sana,” a revival of the Bituin Escalante emotional, musical plea serves as Lance’s first song. The reason for this choice, he shares, “Most people can relate to

TEEN

BULAKEÑA VIES AT MULTINATIONAL PAGEANT

SOPHIA Senoron, an 18-year-old champion varsity debater, is competing against more than 50 contestants from around the world at the Miss Multinational 2018 pageant to be held in New Delhi, India, with coronation night happening tomorrow.

The 5-foot-4 Financial Management student at San Beda University, has competed in various debating competitions locally and internationally.

Senoron went into intensive fitness training at Gold’s Gym under the expertise of Rodgil Flores and Jontie Martinez who designed the gowns for her for the competitions with designer Paolo Blanco. She also received supportive advice from Laura Lehmann, Cynthia Tomalla, Glyssa Leian Perez and reigning Miss Hispanoamericana Winwyn Marquez.

“They have been my rock and my second family,” Senoron said of her fellow Miss World Philippines queens.

Arnold Vegafria, Miss World Philippines National Director, said he is confident that Senoron will bring home the title. “She is very articulate and able to express herself well. It will be her main weapon against the other delegates.” Eton B. Concepcion

Up-and-coming singer Lance Edward

the story and meaning of the song. I sang it in a show recently and many opined na ramdam nila, at galing talaga sa puso ko ‘yung pagkanta kaya tumagos sa mga puso nila.”He carries on, “I guess, many of us have experienced that emotional state, yung may mahal kang di niya alam na mahal mo siya and you see her with someone who does not deserve her kaya yung ang wish mo, na kung ako na lang sana.”“There is no perfect life,” Edward says. “We can’t get anything that we want kaya minsan sa kanta ko na lang, or sa kanta na lang natin dinadaan.”Star Music releases his first single plus other ditties such as Meat Loaf’s mammoth hit “I’d Do Anything For Love” and “I Want It That Way,” the iconic Back Street Boys top of the charts song, on Spotify, iTunes, Spinnr and other digital music platforms.Shows in leading metro and mega Manila malls and in regional entertainment centers as well are being planned. He staged his first show on Feb. 18 at Wilcon City Center on Visayas Avenue.

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sunday, february 25, 2018

Desiree Carlos, Editor

Pets

daycarlos28@yahoo.com

Yssa or Ragu, a dog rescued from the pound by save Animals of Love and Light (save ALL), developed kennel cough at age 9. Considered a senior dog now, she is borderline diabetic, thus her immune system can be compromised anytime.

These two factors-- age and the state of the immune system-- made her susceptible to kennel cough. she completely recovered from the illness after Doc Anthony gave her antibiotics and supplements to boost her immune system.

My Furry BesTie

THIs corner features pets of animal lovers every week. We hope new owners and those thinking of getting a pet will be encouraged to be responsible “furparents” through these features.

We also hope more people will be moved to be kind to animals when they read about the great relationship that can be created between humans and animals.

For contributions, please email to daycarlos28@yahoo.com and put My Furry Bestie as subject.

ThaT Thing called

Kennel cough

By Anthony Prado Basa, DVM

es, dogs do develop cough and in some cases, it can be life-threatening. In other cases, kennel cough can cause a lot of discomfort in dogs.

4. Dog daycare and dog boarding facilities, kennels, veterinary hospitals, dog grooming and other pet businesses where numerous dogs are coming and going or kept in close quarters, must take extra precautions to protect their facilities from the transmission of Kennel Cough.

If a dog is suspected to have this illness, he must be isolated immediately.

WHAT IS KENNEL COUGH?

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OFKENNEL COUGH

Y

Kennel Cough (or Canine Cough) is an upper respiratory infection caused by both a bacteria and a virus.

It is also known as Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC) and Canine Infectious Tracheobronchitis as it affects the dog’s lungs, windpipe and voice box.

Kennel Cough is highly contagious and extremely uncomfortable to dogs. It becomes lifethreatening in young puppies, geriatric dogs, and immune system-compromised dogs.

WHAT CAUSES KENNEL COUGH?

Kennel Cough is caused by several infectious agents, many of which plague the dog simultaneously.

The most common is a bacteria called Bordetella Bronchiseptica (this is why you may also hear Kennel Cough being referred to as Bordetella). If the infection is caused solely by this bacterium, symptoms normally last for only 10 days.

However, the dog continues to shed the disease for 6-14 weeks.

In the majority of cases, Kennel Cough is caused by a combination of both the Bordetalla bacterium and highly infectious viruses such as Canine Distemper or Canine Influenza.

The viruses not only weaken the dog’s immune system to make them more susceptible to Bordetella, but they also attack the cells in the respiratory tract. This puts the dog’s trachea (windpipe) and larynx (voicebox) in harm’s way.

It’s important to note that some dogs are carriers of this disease but do not show any symptom.

But whenever infected dogs with no symptoms come in contact with other dogs, they are exposing these dogs to Canine Cough, putting them at high risk for infection.

Doc Antony with sweet senior Jec Jec, resident dog at sha sha clinic along West Avenue, Quezon City.

Lucas developed kennel cough only recently. He is considered a senior dog as he is 10 years old already.

He was relieved of the discomfort caused by dry cough and phlegm build-up when he was given an antibiotic and supplements.

HOW IKENNEL COUGH IS TRANSMITTED

Kennel Cough is an airborne disease, and is thus primarily spread through the air.

Here are the ways the disease is transmitted: 1. When an infected dog coughs, sneezes, or barks.

The bacteria and viruses can remain viable (alive and able to infect) in the air for up to two (2 )weeks on tiny dust particles, traveling throughout the environment until inhaled by another host.

2. Contact with contaminated objects.

If an infected dog drinks from a watering dish, picks up a toy or stick, or hikes his leg on a post, and another dog comes in contact with these objects, the new dog will most likely contract Kennel Cough.

Bacterium like Bordetella can survive on surfaces for up to 48 hours, ready and waiting to be transmitted to another unsuspecting host to continue the cycle of infection.

3. Direct contact with infected dogs.

Be careful who your dog associates with and where he hangs out! Touching noses, sniffing butts, or just breathing the same air as an infected dog can cause your best friend to develop Kennel Cough.

Although Kennel Cough in dogs is not fatal, it does cause symptoms that make an infected dog quite miserable.

The most common symptoms of Kennel Cough include: 1. A dry, hacking cough. This is a classic symptom. The cough is generally dry (although sometimes mucous can be expelled) and may be described as a “honking” noise. The cough is constant, persistent, and can be unsettling. some dogs may experience a coughing fit every few minutes.

2. Fever. If the dog develops a fever, he probably has contracted a more severe form of the disease.

3. Lethargy. Not all dogs with this illness appear lethargic. If the dog is lethargic, he will have decreased energy, poor appetite, lack of interest in activities he is usually excited about, minimal motivation, among others.

4. Discharge. Nasal discharge and watery, runny eyes are a common symptom of Kennel Cough. In most cases, the discharge will be clear but sometimes it can be slightly cloudy or discolored, the latter is usually a sign of secondary infection.

MINGMING, adopted by Monic Alvarado on Aug. 26 last year, brings joy to her furmommy’s life.

All my stress and problems will suddenly fade away in one second by just seeing her beside me. And I would want nothing more than to be with her forever,” Monic says.

2 dogs + 1 cat = good vibes “My furbabies are so sweet,” says Wenna Redaniel Tapican.

HOW LONG DOES KENNEL COUGH LAST?

Most dogs recover from Kennel Cough within three to four (3-4) weeks.

If a dog has a compromised immune system, is a young puppy or a senior dog, it may take up to six (6) weeks for a complete recovery.

However, the dog may still be a carrier of the disease for several weeks after he has recovered.

HOW IS KENNEL COUGH TREATED?

Canine Cough in dogs can be diagnosed by a veterinarian using cultures and blood tests to isolate the bacteria.

There are several medical and homeopathic options for the treatment of Kennel Cough.

These include: • Medication • Vitamins • Honey • Herbs Your veterinarian can prescribe a round of antibiotics to help your dog recover faster.

Meet Mercury, the cat who roams alongside dogs rescued from dog meat trade, the streets and pounds. Mercury is the “alpha” cat of Dogs Mountain sanctuary in Nagullian, La Union who lords it over at the kitchen. (Thanks Ruby Bautista for the photo)

HOW CAN KENNEL COUGH BE PREVENTED?

Prevention is always the best option.

Here’s how it be done: 1. screen the pets your dog associates with.

2. Make sure your dog’s buddies are healthy and up-to-date on their vaccines.

3. Make sure your dog is seen by a veterinarian regularly.

About the Author: Anthony Prado Basa, 34, graduated from Virgen Milgarosa University Foundation in san Carlos City, Pangasinan in 2008. He is married to Married to Mariliza Basa and has been a practicing vet in Metro Manila for several years now.

BAILeY is Larissa Omaga’s furry bestie, stress buster, and alam clock.

“Who needs a boyfriend when you have the best furry friend ever?” remarks Larissa.

“Bailey is my smiling, sweet boy, the reason I am always excited to go home after work,” she adds.